VALDOSTA, Ga. - The No. 9 West Florida men's tennis team (3-6, 2-1 GSC) fell 8-1 to No. 2 Valdosta State (7-2, 3-0 GSC) on Sunday, March 15 at their home courts in Valdosta. The Argonauts suffered their sixth loss this season, and went 1-2 against top competition this weekend. The Blazzers were too strong for the Argonauts, as they won every match in singles and a match in doubles.
The Argonauts started strong in doubles, as they picked up two wins. Andrey Pozhidaev (freshman/Sochi, Russia) and Kevin Ducros (freshman/Aix-en-Provence, France) defeated 8-4 Leos Jelinek and Frank Sickman in the first spot. In the second spot, Argonauts Patrick Bateman (sophomore/Apopka, Fla.) and Luis Arboleda (senior/Medellin, Colombia) got a easy 8-2 win over Daniel Dueren and Michael Kuech from Valdosta. The third Argonaut duo formed by Nathan Rosenfeld (freshman/Miami, Fla.) and Jose Ycaza (senior/Guayaquil, Ecuador) dropped 8-1 to Florian Halb and Otto Lenhart in the third spot, to give the Argonauts the 2-1 lead over the Blazzers entering the singles action.
The singles play was dominated by the Blazzers, as the Argonauts did not win a match. Argonaut Ducros fell 6-1, 6-0 to Dueren in the first spot. The Blazzers earned the lead in the match for the first time when No 41 Arboleda fell 6-2, 6-0 to No. 9 Halb in the second spot. No. 29 Jelinek defeated Argonaut Pozhidaev in the thirs spot. The Blazzers earned the winning point when Kuech defeated 6-2, 6-1 Argonaut Ycaza. Rosenfeld also fell in straight sets. The Argonat fifth player dropped 6-4, 6-0 to Ben Cattan. The Argonauts dropped the seventh and final point when Bateman pushed Lenhart to a second set tiebreaker, dropping 6-4, 7-6. After winning all six singles matches, the Blazzers earned the 7-2 win over the Argonauts.
With the second loss of the weekend, the Argonauts drop to a 3-6 overall record, while the Blazzers improve to a 7-1 record. West Florida was scheduled to face Georgia Southwester on Sunday, March 15 at 6:00 pm in Americus. However, the match has been cancelled due to a rain out on the location. West Florida will then play NAIA Oklahoma Christian (6-7) on Tuesday March 17 at 2:00 pm. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
