MONTGOMERY, Ala.- The No. 1 seeded West Florida Men's Tennis Team claimed the 2022 Gulf South Conference Championship on Saturday 4-1 against the GSC reigning champions Valdosta State. The Argonauts improve to 19-6 on the season.

This marks the UWF Men's Tennis 14^th Gulf South Conference Championship and 112^th conference title for the University of West Florida.

The Argonauts started off on the right foot, winning the lone point in doubles to have the lead over the Blazers.

Salvador Bandeira and Lluis Miralles Miro secured the first doubles point for the Argos as the pair won their match 6-4 from the No. 2 position. Facundo Bermejo and his partner Tomas Descarrega dominated their match from the No. 1 position taking down the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the nation from Valdosta 7-5.

Pedro Cordeiro and Bernardo Costa put up a tough fight, but just couldn't come up with the point as they fell in their match 6-3 from the No. 3 position.

The momentum from doubles carried over into singles play as the Argos had huge wins from the bottom half of the lineup.

The first point in singles would come from Cordeiro as he won in two straight sets against Cameron Trigolos 6-0, 6-4 from the No. 6 position. Sebastian Sotelo defeated Christian Wedel 7-6, 6-4 from the No. 5 position to secure the next point.

Salvador Bandeira had the clinching point to claim the GSC title for the Argonauts from the No. 4 position, winning his match 7-6, 6-4.
Descarrega ultimately fell in his match, dropping his match to Lamar Bartley 6-4, 6-0 from the No. 3 position.

Juan Cabrera and Bermejo's matches went unfinished due to the Argos securing the victory. Bermejo was leading Rodrigo Carvalho 6-2, 4-3 from the No. 2 position when the match concluded. Cabrera was in his third set against Luca Mack when the match ended 6-2, 5-7, 5-2 from the No. 1 position.

"I'm super proud of our guys for defeating a tough Valdosta team, it's always a great fight between both teams. We came out and did our job and I couldn't be prouder of them for their hard work to get to this moment," said head coach Derrick Racine.

This is the first GSC title for the Argos since 2017 and 12^th conference title under head coach Derrick Racine.

West Florida earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament and the selections will be announced Tuesday, May 3.

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