VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 6 West Florida women’s tennis team (7-2, 2-1 GSC) was defeated for the second time this season, falling to No. 3 Valdosta State 8-1 on Sunday at their home courts. The Lady Blazers delivered the Argos their second loss this weekend, as the hosts dropped only a single match.
Valdosta started very strong in the doubles action by winning in all three spots. Argonauts No. 12 Renata Mattos (senior/ Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Taylor Brewster (sophomore/Ontario, Canada) fell 8-5 to No. 6 Raphaelle Durante and Karine Redon. Valdosta State earned its second point when Kristel de Groot and Natali Gumbrecht defeated Argonauts third duo formed by Caitlyn Baines (freshman/Panama City Beach, Fla.) and Cammie Gray (freshman/Shalimar, Fla.). In the first spot, with No. 24 Suzana Cavalcante (senior/Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Paulina Ojeda (sophomore/Santiago, Chile) also fell 8-6 to No. 3 Dominique Rothlaender and Tina Trautmann. The Lady Blazers earned the 3-0 lead in doubles, to carry out to the singles action.
In singles Valdosta State was also stronger than the Argonauts, winning five out of six matches. Yana Bokareva (sophomore/Moscow, Russia) played in the second spot and fell 6-2, 6-3 to No. 11 Gumbrecht to give the Argonauts the 4-0 disadvantage. In the third spot, Ojeda only got a game on her 6-1, 6-0 loss to No. 39 Durante, giving the Blazzers the fifth point so secure the team win for Valdosta State. No 2 Cavalcante defeated No. 13 Rothlaender to give the Argonauts its lone win in the first spot. Mattos dropped 6-3, 6-0 to Trautmann in the fourth spot. Baines was defeated 6-2, 6-1 to Sonya Haggstrom in the sixth spot. Brewsted pushed de Groot to a third set. The fifth player from Valdosta State defeated Brewster with a 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 score to give the Blazzers the 8-1 over the Argonauts.
With the loss, the Argonauts drop to a 7-2 overall record, while the Lady Blazers improve to 7-2. West Florida will next play NAIA Oklahoma Christian on Tuesday at the Ralph “Skeeter” Carson Complex in Pensacola at 2:00 pm. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
