PENSACOLA, Fla. – Returning to home action, the No. 6 West Florida women’s tennis team (8-2, 2-1 GSC) defeated 7-2 Oklahoma Christian (7-2) on Tuesday, March 17 at the Ralph “Skeeter” Carson Complex. By beating the Lady Eagles, the Argonauts earned their eighth win this season, as the hosts won every doubles and four singles matches.
West Florida started the doubles action strong by winning in all three spots. Argonauts second duo formed by Caitlyn Baines (freshman/Panama City Beach, Fla.) and Cammie Gray (freshman/Shalimar, Fla.) defeated 8-1 Olfa Dhaoui and Sarah Yeargan. In the first spot, with No. 24 Suzana Cavalcante (senior/Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Paulina Ojeda (sophomore/Santiago, Chile) easily beat 8-2 Gabriela Nastasa and Leila Keihani. Argonauts Yana Bokareva (sophomore/Moscow, Russia) and Taylor Brewster (sophomore/Ontario, Canada) did not have trouble to defeat 8-3 Catarina Franca and Callie Draelos, to give the Argonauts the 3-0 lead.
In singles West Florida dominated the Lady eagles, as the hosts won all four matches on the bottom of the lineup. Naomi Higa (freshman/Cordoba, Argentina) did not drop a game on her 6-0, 6-0 win over Draelos in the sixth spot. Baines cruised on her 6-2, 6-1 win over Franca in the fourth spot, to give the Argonauts their fifth point and to secure the team victory over the Lady Eagles. Playing in the fifth spot, Gray did not have trouble to beat 6-3, 6-2 Yeargan. Oklahoma Christian won the next two matches in straight sets. Bokareva dropped 6-2, 6-4 to Dhaoui in the first spot. Ojeda was defeated 6-3, 6-1 by Nastasa in the first spot. The Argonauts earned their seventh and final point when Brewster went toe-to-toe with Lady Eagles third player. Brewster won a tough 7-6, 7-6 over Keihani to give West Florida the 7-2 team victory over Oklahoma Christian, its eight of the season.
With the win, the Argonauts improved to an 8-2 overall record, while the Lady Eagles dropped to a 7-2. West Florida will next play NAIA No. 4 Berry (Ga.) (6-0) on Wednesday at the Ralph “Skeeter” Carson Complex in Pensacola at 2:00 pm. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
