PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 9 West Florida men's tennis team (7-7, 3-1 GSC) picked up a win over No. 25 BYU-Hawaii (14-4) on Monday, March 23 at the Ralph “Skeeter” Carson Complex in Pensacola. The Argonauts earned their seventh win of the season and bounced back with a win over a nationally-ranked squad.
West Florida started strong, as the Argonauts shut out BYU-Hawaii in the doubles action. Argonauts Mike Lue (freshman/Richmond Hills, Ontario) and Sean Gunnels (freshman/Mobile, Ala.) defeated the Seasiders’ third duo formed by Carlton Taylor and Joe Beck with an 8-4 score. In the second spot, Luis Arboleda (senior/Medellin, Colombia) teamed with Patrick Bateman (sophomore/Apopka, Fla.) and picked up an 8-4 win over Manu Bajpai and Romeo Juhasz. Andrey Pozhidaev (freshman/Sochi, Russia) teamed with Kevin Ducros (freshman/Aix-en-Provence, France) and defeated No. 10 Rong Ma and Agnel Peter in the first spot. The Argonauts had the 3-0 lead entering the singles action.
In the singles action West Florida squad was also stronger than the opponents, winning four out of six singles matches. The Seasiders earned a point when Rosenfeld dropped the first set to Juhasz in the fourth spot and had to retire due to an injury. Pozhidaev played defeated Seasiders second player No. 43 Peter with a 6-1, 6-2 score to give the Argonauts the 4-1 lead. The West Florida squad earned the team victory when Ducros defeated No. 3 Ma 6-2, 6-4 in the first singles, winning the fifth Argonaut point. The Seasiders responded with Taylor beating Gunnels 6-3, 6-3 in the fifth spot. The following two matches were won by the Argonauts, both with a 6-2, 6-4 score. Jose Ycaza (senior/Guayaquil, Ecuador) beat Beck in the sixth spot. No. 48 Bateman defeated Bajpai in the third spot, to give the West Florida the 7-2 final score, and the seventh win this season.
With the win West Florida improved to a 7-7 overall record and posted its third win over a Division II ranked opponent in the 2009 season. West Florida will now face No. 8 Drury (6-3) on Tuesday March 24 at 2:00 pm. This is the second time that the Argonauts will face the Panthers this season, as the Panther defeated the Argos 5-2 earlier in Arkadelphia. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
