ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Make it a clean two-dozen wins in a row for the top-ranked UWF men's tennis team. The Argonauts got their 24th-consecutive win with a 5-1 victory over 23rd-ranked Southwestern Baptist in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship at Sanlando Park Thursday.
That vaulted UWF into Friday's national title match for the sixth time in program history and the fifth in the last 14 years. UWF (31-1) will meet No. 2 Barry (26-1) at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time as the South region powers will be playing for the second time this season after the Argos claimed a 5-4, neutral-site win on March 12.
"Our goal was to get to the title match and give ourselves a chance to win," UWF head coach
Derrick Racine said. "The whole season is a grind but this tournament is especially tough to try to win four matches in four days. It takes good playing and good fortune and both of us have had that.
"Southwest Baptist came out and played a terrific match and had some really good doubles. They weren't intimidated by anything. For the second-straight day we had to fight back from being down a break late in one of the doubles matches."
Alex Peyrot and
Pedro Dumont got consecutive breaks in games five and seven to get the first team point with an 8-4 win at No. 1. Just over five minutes later,
Gabriel Dias and
Pedro Roese collected an 8-5 victory for a 2-0 Argos lead. SWB registered its lone point of the contest at No. 3 doubles as UWF's
Warren Kuhn and
Pablo Tellez lost for the first time in 15 matches with an 8-4 setback.
The Argonauts put the pressure back on early with first set wins at three, five and six singles.
Serdar Bojadjiev won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 by claiming the final eight games for his second victory of the week. The standout freshman is 20-1 on the year.
"He played his game and he's going to swing after his ball, regardless of the score," Racine said of his freshman standout. "Sometimes we have to dial him down a bit because he's so intense."
UWF earned another point at No. 6 when
Sebastian Sanchez won his second match of the week while improving to 18-1 with a 6-2, 6-1 decision.
"(Sebastian) has been key for us because he basically has come off the bench to play for us this whole tournament," Racine said of Sanchez, who has been listed at No. 7 during the NCAA Tournament but slid into the six spot following doubles in all five matches. "And he's played phenomenal every time he's been in."
The match was clinched at No. 5 when
Alfonso Castellano won his tenth-consecutive match with a 6-1, 6-4 outcome.
The Argos are now 18-2 all-time at Sanlando Park after having won their last seven at the facility. The appearance in the NCAA Championships marks the 16th for UWF and its fifth in the last six years. The Argos have previously won the national title in 2004, 2005 and 2014.
UWF is making its sixth national title match appearance and has a 3-2 record.
The 31 victories are the second-most in program history, passing the 2005 national champion squad. The 2004 group won 33 matches on their way to the title.
