PENSACOLA, Fla. – West Florida Men's Tennis team will return to action this Friday after having a little over a week off since they last played in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. This weekend will feature matches against Keiser University on Friday and Xavier University of Louisiana on Sunday in what will be the first home weekend of tennis for the Argos since last season.

The Argonauts who come into the weekend ranked as the #3 team in the nation and will look to continue their early-season success carrying a record of 5-1 after their first two weekends of play. This includes two wins over nationally-ranked teams their last time out as well as three wins over Gulf South Conference foes during their first weekend of play.

Keiser and Xavier (La.) come to Pensacola as familiar opponents to the Argonauts having squared off in the 2019 season as well. During these matches, UWF knocked off Keiser 4-2 in an exhibition match and took down Xavier (La.) 6-1 during that weekend as well.

About the Argos: West Florida is once again making waves early on in the 2021 season showing no rust after the long break due to the pandemic.

After starting the year 3-0, the Argonauts put their record to the test from the ITA National Team Indoor Championship taking on three nationally ranked teams within the span of three days.

The weekend started with a clash between UWF and familiar foe #19 Delta State in a match that saw the Argonauts win 4-0 over the Statesmen. In the semifinal match, UWF dropped a hard-fought match to the #10 ranked, University of Indianapolis before bouncing back on the final day to beat #7 Drury 4-0 to secure third place in the tournament.

Redshirt Sophomore, Salvador Bandeira, was a player who stood out during this tournament finishing 3-0 in doubles and 1-1 in singles to be named GSC Player of the Week for his performance. Bandeira and his partner Gabriel Nery have been the foundation of the Argos doubles lineup starting the year 6-0 as the No. 2 pairing. In singles, Bandeira took down the representative from #7 Drury 6-0, 6-2 from the No. 2 position to help the Argos pick up the win in their final match of the weekend.

Across the remaining lineup for UWF, Adam Svensson, Nicolas Lecoutre, and Juan Cabrera have each been excelling and are still unbeaten on the year in singles play. Cabrera holds a 5-0 record on the season while Svensson and Lecoutre both hold 3-0 records after having a couple of matches go unfinished during the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.

Scouting Keiser: Keiser heads to Pensacola as one of the top-ranked NAIA teams in the nation. Currently ranked as the No. 2 team in the nation, the Seahawks will put their 8-1 record to the test when they battle the Argonauts on Friday.

With their lone loss coming to Division I opponent Florida Gulf Coast, Keiser has already knocked off four nationally-ranked opponents to start their year.

Picked to finish atop of the Sun Conference during their preseason poll, the Seahawks have lived up to expectations so far this year taking all points against NAIA opponents on the season. Bolstered by the No. 1 NAIA player in the nation, Luke Simkiss,
Keiser has a lineup full of depth and experience which has propelled them to this early-season success.  

Scouting Xavier (La.): As another NAIA program, tenth-ranked Xavier (La.) will head to Pensacola this weekend after having a very tough schedule to start their season.

Taking on four teams who were either receiving votes or ranked in the top ten of the NAIA polls, the Gold Rush have had a difficult time finding their footing early on in the season.

However, this is still a very talented team as before the season was cut short last season, Xavier was off to a 9-1 start including two wins over ranked opponents.

Picked to finish first in the Southern States Conference to start the season, beating out William-Carey to secure the recognition. Lead by Santiago Perez and Shaikh Abdullah, the Gold Rush have a solid foundation to play around and will look to lean on these players this weekend against the Argonauts.

Staying Close to Home: Including these two matches, the Argos are scheduled to play seven straight home matches from the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex. This stretch will include matches against two nationally-ranked opponents and feature two Gulf South Conference matches to finish out the stretch. With this marking seven of the eight home matches all season be sure to keep an eye out on the schedule as well as social media so you don't miss a moment of the action.

Schedule for the Weekend: Action is scheduled to begin on Friday when West Florida will take on Keiser at 1 PM from the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex. Then after a day off on Saturday, UWF will take on Xavier (La.) at 10 AM as well to finish out the weekend.

How to Follow the Argos: For complete information on UWF Tennis, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @TennisUWF on Twitter and @uwfmenstennis on Instagram.