MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In their 26-straight Gulf South Conference Championship appearance, the West Florida Women's Tennis team couldn't take down top-seeded West Alabama falling 4-3 in today's match. This is now the first time in their history that the Tigers and Head Coach Jeff Beaman have won this title.

It was an unusual start to the day today for both teams as the opening serve was pushed back five and a half hours to 2:30 PM due to rain in the Montgomery area. With another lightning delay during the match in total, the Championship took nearly five hours to complete.

When action began, the Tigers jumped out to a strong start and took matches from the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions to secure the decisive point in today's match.

Karolina Silwanowicz and Samantha Echevarria fell 3-6 from the No. 2 doubles position while Irene Recuenco and Mayumi Saguchi lost 0-6 from the No. 3 position. Berta Bonardi and Sara Yigin were down 3-4 from the No. 1 position before the match went unfinished.

In singles, the Argonauts set the tone immediately jumping out to first set leads in four matches to get the Tigers on their heels.

Bonardi from the No. 1 position, won her first set 6-2 while Recuenco from the No. 2 position also got out to an early lead winning 6-4 in set one. Similarly, Yigin won 6-3 in set one from the No. 4 position while Saguchi came out with a 6-4 victory in her first set.

Early into the second set for most of the pairings, lightning reentered the Montgomery area and forced both teams into nearly an hour-long delay.

Once action resumed, Bonardi made quick work from the No. 1 position wrapping her match up 6-2, 6-2. Yigin and Saguchi weren't far behind winning both of their matches in straight sets to put the Argonauts up 3-1 with three close matches left to decide the victor.

After fighting back in the second set, Silwanowicz couldn't break through in set three and fell in her match from the No. 3 position. Raissa Wagner narrowly fell in her first set and dropped a hard-fought second set to knot the score a three apiece.

With both teams now tied, the winner from court No. 2 would decide who came out as conference champs on the day. After a strong start, Recuenco ultimately fell 3-6 in the decisive third set to secure the win for West Alabama.

The fate of West Florida's remaining season comes down to the South Region voters as they will look to continue their season in the South Regional. Selections will be made on May 4, and if the Argonauts are chosen they will play on their home court as West Florida was chosen to host the regional.

Stay tuned to GoArgos.com as well as the UWF Women's Tennis Social Media pages for updates on this regional selection as well as the team in general.

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.