VALDOSTA, Ga – The No. 5 ranked UWF Women's Tennis Team (1-0) shut out Palm Beach Atlantic (3-2) in their season opening match in a cloudy Valdosta, Georgia.
The ominous weather looming in Valdosta, Georgia didn't phase the Argos as they raced to a quick 3-0 lead after dominating in each doubles match. No. 12 ranked Paula Coyos and Jordana Lujan secured the first point, defeating Taylor Conti and Yuliia Russo 8-1 at the top court. Senior Samantha Echevarria and junior Diana Vlad were close behind them, dominating Michaela Mignemi and Romina Bolagay with an identical score of 8-1. To wrap up the doubles, newcomer Ines Nicault and Senior Valeria Mantilla earned an 8-2 victory over Vanessa Buchbinder and Johanna Kern. On an exhibition match on the side, Junior Isabella Calves and Sophomore Lais Bicca also picked up an 8-2 win against Carolina Wakiyama and Michaela Mignemi
After dictating the doubles, the Argos never looked back in the singles and only lost a total of 17 games on all six singles courts. From the top position, No. 11 Coyos raced to a 6-2 6-2 victory over Bella Mermersky. Next to finish was Ines Nicault, earning her first singles win as an Argonaut. Lujan, No. 31 Matilla, and No. 36 Vlad all only surrendered 3 games in each of their matches. To finish off a flawless performance, Mixon defeated Nicole Reich 6-1 6-1 at the fifth position.
The West Florida Argos will next face top ranked Lynn University on Sunday, February 11 at the Valdosta State University Complex at 10 am eastern time.
The reigning National Champions and top ranked UWF Men's Tennis Team (1-0) dictated Palm Beach Atlantic (3-3) eight wins to one in their season opening match at the Valdosta State University Complex.
Fresh out of the gate, sophomore Serdar Bojadjiev and junior Nicolas Lecoutre made quick work of Bernardo Ferreira and Pietro de Silva on the top court, only losing one game in their pro set to eight. Palm Beach refused to allow this defeat affect the other courts, and the Argos found themselves in two tight clashes on courts 2 and 3. Though valiant in their attempts to add another point for the Argos, Phillip Hoffmann and Carlos Niemeyer narrowly defeated UWF's third pair Gerard Rodriguez and Robin Rafaitin by a score of 8-6. With all eyes on the second court, redshirt Sophomore Nicholas Springer and Senior Alfonso Castellano were up a break 8-7 against the pair Pato Zarazua and Thomas Salmon. PBA threw everything they had in this game, and they possessed multiple break opportunities to force a deciding tiebreaker. Springer was unfazed by the situation at hand and bombed two unreturned serves on each break point. The duo closed out the match 9-7 by Castellano touching a perfect drop shot winner just over the net.
After the intense doubles matches, the battle continued onto the singles court. Sophomore Juan Motta and No. 23 Alfonso Castellano stormed through their matches with ease, both quickly winning in straight sets. The remaining matches, on the other hand, were all back and forth battles. Both No. 40 Nicolas Lecoutre and Juan Cabrera were forced to go into tiebreakers; each player remained calm through the pressure and came out victorious. Junior Lucas Sanchez portrayed a solid performance at the third position to take down Pietro de Silva 6-4 6-4. The last match on was a thrilling three set match, with No. 7 Bojadjiev overcoming PBA's Philipp Hoffmann 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 6-1.
The Men will next take on Lynn University (3-0) at 10:00am eastern time at the Valdosta State University Tennis Complex.
