LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The top ranked West Florida Argonauts (2-0) hit the road for a weekend trip to Alabama to face off against Gulf South Conference opponents. The first contender for the Argos was the University of West Alabama (3-2), where UWF powered past the Tigers 7-2 on a cloudy and rainy afternoon at the Vaughn Tennis Complex in Livingston, Alabama.
From the first serve as doubles commenced, the Argos found themselves in intense battles on every court with the Tigers. On court two, Sophomore Nicholas Springer and Alfonso Castellano placed UWF up one point to none, defeating Andrii Stratiienko and Henrik Sinkko 8-4.
The remaining doubles matches were close as each team attempted to break serve. After continuous back and forth holds, Serdar Bojedjiev and Nicolas Lecoutre managed to break Julius Kaverinen to gain a 7-6 lead. Bojedjiev bombed three unreturnable serves to add a second point to the Argos overall score.
All attention was then focused on court three, where Lucas Sanchez and Robin Rafaitin found themselves on serve at 8-7. At 30-30, a nervous Anton Lof spun a second serve into the forehand of Sanchez, where he blazed an untouched shot down the line. The Argos erased the Tigers chances of picking up the final point in doubles as Rafaitin cut off a crosscourt volley and knocking it into an open court.
After earning a well-deserved 3-0 lead, the Argos pounced on the physically and emotionally drained Tigers. Right out of the gate, Rafaitin from court five dropped only two games en route to his dominance over Sinkko.
#40 LeCoutre clinched this GSC competition, eliminating Nordblom 6-1, 6-3. West Alabama earned their first point from court three as Linus Holthey overcame Gerard Rodriguez 6-2, 6-2.
Closely following the secured triumph over West Alabama, both Cabrera and Motta finished their matches with wins on courts four and six, respectively. Last on was court one, where #7 Bojedjiev lost a dramatic back and forth 4-6, 7-6, 11-9 contest with Julius Kaverinen.
Up next the Argos will take on North Alabama in Florence, Alabama. Matches will start at 10am on Saturday.
