PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 6 West Florida women’s tennis team (10-2, 2-1 GSC) earned another perfect victory, as the Argonauts blanked the opponent for the sixth time in the 2009 season. The Argonauts did not drop a match in the 9-0 win over No. 16 Northeastern State (12-1) on Thursday, March 19 at the Ralph “Skeeter” Carson Complex. The Argonauts delivered the RiverHawks their first loss, earning their tenth victory in 2009 to remain perfect at home.
West Florida started the doubles action strong by winning in all three spots, dropping only four games combined. In the first spot, No. 24 Suzana Cavalcante (senior/Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Paulina Ojeda (sophomore/Santiago, Chile) did not have trouble to beat Zuzanna Osinska and Karolina Cichon 8-2. The Argonauts’ second duo formed by Caitlyn Baines (freshman/Panama City Beach, Fla.) and Cammie Gray (freshman/Shalimar, Fla.) did not drop a game in its 8-0 win over Emina Spirtovic and Michaela Romanova. Renata Mattos (senior/Sao Paulo, Brazil) teamed with Yana Bokareva (sophomore/Moscow, Russia) to easily beat Agata Skorupska and Valerie McKinney 8-2, giving the Argonauts the 3-0 lead entering the singles action.
In singles West Florida was pushed to the limit from Northeastern State, as three out of six singles matches were decided in a third set. Baines was the only Argo player who did not have much trouble, as she defeated Skorupska 6-3, 6-3 in the fourth spot. The Argos’ No. 3 player Bokareva rallied from a break down to take the first set in a tiebreaker and defeat Cichon 7-6, 6-4, giving the Argonauts their fifth point and to secure the team victory over the RiverHawks. No. 2 Cavalcante also had to battle through a tiebreak in the first set, before the Brazilian native defeats No. 25 Osinska 7-6, 7-5 in the first singles. Playing in the fourth spot, Mattos won the first set and dropped the second, so the match had to be decided in a third set. The Brazilian native cruised in the decisive set to defeat Romanova with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 score. The Argonauts’ sixth player Gray also had the one set lead and dropped the advantage. In the decisive set, the left-hander was down 5-2 and managed to come back and win five straight games to seal the match with a 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 win over Alicja Augustynska. Playing in the second spot No. 15 Ojeda also dropped the one set lead and had to battle through a third set. The Chilean native won the first set in a tiebreaker and dropped the second set also in a tiebreaker after having match points. Ojeda took the decisive set and closed the match with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 score over Spirtovic, giving the Argonauts their sixth perfect win in 2009.
With the victory, the Argonauts jumped to a 10-2 overall record, while the RiverHawks dropped to a 12-1. West Florida will next play GSC rival North Alabama on Sunday, March 22 at the Ralph “Skeeter” Carson Complex in Pensacola at 10:00 am. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
