VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 6 West Florida women’s tennis team (6-1, 1-0 GSC) was defeated for the first time this season, falling to No. 4 Lynn 6-3 on Saturday at Valdosta State. The Fighting Knights ended the Argonauts six match winning streak.
Lynn started strong in the doubles action by earning the first two points in the second and third spots. Argonauts Renata Mattos (senior/ Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Yana Bokareva (sophomore/Moscow, Russia) fell 8-1 to Magdalena Ekert and Tessie Salame. Lynn earned its second point when Alison Siaci and Jessica Yanoff defeated Argonauts third duo formed by Caitlyn Baines (freshman/Panama City Beach, Fla.) and Cammie Gray (freshman/Shalimar, Fla.). The Argonauts bounced back by winning in the first spot, with No. 24 Suzana Cavalcante (senior/Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Paulina Ojeda (sophomore/Santiago, Chile) beating 9-8 Katerina Jiskrova and Eleonora Iannozzi in a tiebreaker. The Fighting knights earned the 2-1 lead in doubles, to carry out to the singles action.
In singles Lynn was also stronger than the Argonauts, winning four out of six matches, all in straight sets. Bokareva played in the second spot and fell 6-0, 6-1 to No. 30 Ekert to give the Argonauts the 3-1 disadvantage. Taylor Brewster played in the fourth spot, and was defeated 6-1, 6-4 by No. 6 Iannozzi, to set the Fighting Knights one point away from the team victory. The Argonauts bounced back by winning the next two matches. No. 15 Ojeda defeated No. 16 Yanoff with a 7-6, 6-3 score in the third spot. No. 2 Cavalcante needed three sets to defeat No. 43 Jiskrova 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 and get the Argonauts back on the scoreboard. However, the Fighting Knights stepped up and earned the next two wins in straight sets. Mattos fell 6-3, 7-5 to Salame in the fifth spot, giving the Fighting Knight its fifth point to secure the team win over the Argonauts. Baines dropped in the sixth spot to No. 12 Siaci with a 6-1, 6-4 score.
With the first loss of the season, the Argonauts drop to a 6-1 overall record, while the Fighting Knights improve to 11-0. West Florida will next play GSC rival Alabama-Huntsville later this Saturday in Valdosta at 6:00 pm. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
