INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - No. 5 UWF (0-1) fell in doubles and could never climb out of the hole in a 4-3 loss to No. 3 Saint Leo (5-0, 1-0 SSC) in its first-round match of the ITA Division II National Men's Team Indoor Championship at the UIndy Tennis Center this morning.
 
The Lions were well on their way to winning its fourth straight over West Florida when they claimed best of three in doubles. In the No. 1 doubles match, Luis Iriarte and Martin Soukal, won 6-1 over Sebastian Sotelo and Sebastian Rondon. Diego Duran and Albin Ekenros returned the favor by taking a 6-1 win in the No. 2 spot over Nicolas Bacella and Ghali Mensour, the No. 7 ranked doubles pair in the ITA Division II Preseason Doubles Rankings, before Eduardo Cohen and Vincent Thiel clinched the game with a 6-3 decision over Bernardo Costa and Joaquin Estevez. 
 
Singles then got off to an inauspicious start as Costa fell in a pair of 6-1 results to Soukal, the No. 18 player in the preseason singles rankings, and No. 36 Thiel won two tight sets against No. 17 Sotelo 7-6 (7-4) and 6-4. Down 3-0, momentum began to swing the way of the Argos toward the bottom of the lineup as UWF won the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 matches. Rondon topped Mensour 6-4, 7-5 and Mateo Martinez defeated Bacella 7-5, 6-4. Duran then claimed a huge win in three sets over Iriarte by scores of 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. With the match on the line in the tiebreaking matchup, however, Dylan Andrianaly took two 6-4 set wins over Ekenros to put the match to bed. 
 
The Argos must move on quickly from the setback, as they have another top-five opponent waiting in the wings for the first consolation match tomorrow morning at 8 am ET/7 am CT. It is a familiar face in No. 1 Valdosta State, who began the season 4-0 and defeated No. 2 Barry last week in a rematch of last season's national championship before suffering an upset loss in the first round today to No. 4 Flagler, also by a 4-3 score.
 
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