BOX SCORE: PDF

SAINT LEO, Fla. – The eighth-ranked UWF women's tennis team was unable to overcome a strong doubles performance from second-ranked Saint Leo, falling to the Lions 5-2 in the NCAA South Region Final at the Saint Leo Tennis Center Tuesday.
 
UWF sees its season come to a close with a 23-6 record, marking the sixth-consecutive 20-win season and the 21st in program history.
 
"That was a tough match," UWF head coach Derrick Racine said. "Doubles is always the key to our matches. To Saint Leo's credit, they played great doubles. We dug ourselves into a bit of a hole but the girls played well in singles. "
 
UWF started strong in doubles, grabbing early leads in all three matches before Saint Leo collected wins of 8-6, 8-5 and 8-4 for a 3-0 team lead.
 
The Argonauts went up a set four singles matches and got dominating performances from Dianna Vlad and Heather Mixon at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively.
 
Vlad improved to 15-7 on the year with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Coralie Pesenti for UWF's first point of the match. Moments later, Mixon closed-out Madeline Gauthier 6-0, 6-0 to run her season mark to 23-2 and pull to within 3-2 on the scoreboard.
 
But Saint Leo earned a 3-set win at No. 2 and a straight-set decision at No. 1 to secure the team score at 5-2.