PENSACOLA, Fla. - In their final match of the regular season, the No. 8 ranked West Florida Women's Tennis team will take on Montevallo in a rescheduled match from earlier in the season. Currently, with a 12-4 record, the Argonauts are looking to finish regular season play on a high note before the Gulf South Conference Tournament begins on Thursday.
Locked in as the No. 2 seed for the upcoming tournament, this match will have no bearing on the Argonauts seeding but will be a big match for momentum and regional rankings. With West Florida being one of the seven teams in consideration in the South Region they must finish strong to secure a spot in the regional.
Senior Day Festivities – With Sunday's match being the final regular-season home match for the Argonauts, two players will be recognized for their contributions to this West Florida Women's Tennis team. Prior to the match, both
Berta Bonardi and
Samantha Echevarria will be recognized for all of their hard work and dedication given to the program.
Bonardi during her time at UWF has made her mark on the record book and cemented herself as one of the best players in West Florida Women's Tennis history. As an individual, Bonardi has won two Division II National Championships in singles and has been named an ITA Singles All-American each year she has played. Named as the GSC Player of the Decade, Bonardi has gone 37-3 in singles over her career as well 29-7 in doubles all from the No. 1 position.
Over Echevarria's career she has been someone the Argonauts could lean on and had a knack for picking up huge wins. As a Second Team All-GSC selection in 2018, Echevarria has gone 34-8 over her career in singles play. This includes a perfect 14-0 record in her first season with West Florida which helped the Argonauts advance all the way to the NCAA Championship match.
About West Florida – The Argonauts are currently on a two-match win streak and have won six of their last seven matches in total. Over this stretch West Florida has picked up five conference wins as well as a top-25 victory over No. 16 North Georgia earlier in the month.
This success is bolstered by some strong doubles play in which the Argonauts have found their rhythm as of late. After starting their season 4-5 in doubles, West Florida has won the lone point in seven consecutive matches to help them on their 6-1 stretch.
Bonardi and
Sara Yigin have been a very difficult pairing to take down this season compiling a 12-2 record from the No. 1 position to help them be ranked as the No. 5 doubles pair in the nation in the latest rankings.
Karolina Silwanowicz and
Samantha Echevarria have found much success in doubles as well going 10-2 as the No. 2 pairing.
In singles, the Argonauts have been firing on all cylinders as of late with Bonardi and Yigin picking up GSC Player and Freshman of the Week for their efforts last week.
Bonardi, who is the No. 2 player in the nation, is 13-2 this season and has won 6-0, 6-0 in three of her last four outings.
Irene Recuenco has been a great compliment to Bonardi from the top of the lineup picking up an 11-4 record from primarily the No. 2 position. Lastly, the freshman Yigin has been outstanding in her first season at UWF going 11-2 to this point in the season playing from the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.
About Montevallo – The Falcons enter Sunday's matchup with a record of 5-10 including a 3-6 record in GSC play on the year. This matchup will be of much importance for Montevallo as they are still looking to clinch a spot in the upcoming GSC Tournament as they currently sit in ninth place in the conference standings.
Doubles play has been solid for the Falcons on the season as they have won the lone point in seven of their matches including in each of their last three.
Eva Dirr and Cyba Ozzor have been a strong pairing for the Falcons picking up wins in their last four outings en route to their 6-3 record on the season. This success has helped the Falcons compile a 22-23 record in doubles and compete for the lone point in almost every match they play in.
In singles, Dirr has once again been a lock for Montevallo winning in her last four singles matches to improve to 9-5 on the season from the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. In addition to Dirr, Isabelle Barfoot has gone 6-1 from primarily the No. 6 position to be a strong force from the bottom half of the Falcons lineup.
Schedule for Sunday – Action will begin at 10 AM (CST) Sunday with both the Men's and Women's teams playing at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex. As always to stay up to date with this match as well as postseason developments tune into GoArgos.com and the UWF Women's Tennis social media pages for updates and highlights about the team.
How to Follow the Argos: For complete information on UWF Women's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @
TennisUWF on Twitter and @
uwfwomenstennis on Instagram.