PENSACOLA, Fla. - The West Florida women's tennis squad is set to begin its 2024 season with a match at local D1 opponent South Alabama. The Argos take on the Jaguars at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts in Mobile, Ala., on February 2 at 1 pm. Admission is free.
Previewing the Argonauts: UWF aims to start the season on a high note as a receiving votes squad, falling just outside the rankings of the ITA Division II Women's Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll.
Though the Argos return most of their contributors, they do lose a few from last season, not the least of which is standout
Mayumi Saguchi. The 2023 First Team All-GSC honoree played at the No. 1 singles position, tallying an 8-14 record while going 9-5 on the No. 3 doubles team with sophomore
Guadalupe Martinez. Fellow graduates
Raissa Wagner and
Isabela Fioravanti have also departed, and 2022 Second Team All-GSC winner
Sara Yigin is unavailable for the season. This means the team has no seniors on the squad this spring. There is also only one newcomer to the program, freshman
Manuela Dejean.
As for the returners, Martinez played from the Nos. 3 and 4 positions in singles with a 7-2 mark in GSC play with a 9-2 overall record with Saguchi in doubles. Juniors and No. 2-position doubles partners
Luiza Daud and
Nathalia Mossambani went 9-2 with a perfect 5-0 record in conference play, and Daud went 13-5 overall and 7-2 in the GSC slate in singles. The other juniors are
Giuliana Sacco and
Zoe Yasan, who primarily played singles.
Aline Midori Da Silva, the 2023 GSC Freshman of the Year and fifth in program history, comes back after posting an impressive 15-5 singles record mostly from the No. 3 position, which included the clinching point in the GSC Tournament Semifinals against Auburn Montgomery. She also went 12-7 as part of the No. 1 doubles position and 16th-ranked doubles pair according to the ITA Doubles Ranking with fellow sophomore
Carlota Verdu, who won 2023 First Team All-GSC honors and finished 6-5 in GSC play.
Jenna Svatos also returns after a freshman campaign that saw her log a 13-9 record in singles play, as does
Catharina Schoch, who is coming off a redshirt season.
The Argos finished 2023 with a 14-10 record, 7-3 against GSC competition. They entered the GSC Tournament seeded No. 3 and defeated No. 6 Valdosta State 4-0 and No. 2 Auburn Montgomery 4-3 to advance to the championship match, where they fell to top-seed West Alabama 4-0. The program clinched its 25th NCAA Regional Tournament appearance in the process, where it was ousted by the No. 2 team in the country in Nova Southeastern.
The Argos now head into a new year looking to claim their 20th GSC title, 26th NCAA Regionals berth and 13th National Tournament appearance in the program's 26th season under the leadership of
Derrick Racine. He has led UWF women's tennis in that time to a 510-167 overall record, good for a .760 winning percentage.
About South Alabama: The Jaguars' women's tennis program is in its 22nd year under head coach Jaco Keyser, the program's winningest coach and a three-year letter winner for the men's side during his time in college at South Alabama. The team is off to a 2-0 start with a pair of 7-0 wins over UWF conference rival West Alabama and Florida A&M.
The team finished 2023 18-6 with a 7-4 mark in conference play before falling to No. 2 seed James Madison in the Sun Belt Conference Tennis Tournament. The season also featured the Jags' only previous meeting with UWF to open the Argos' season, which the D1 side won 6-1 in Mobile. The lone win of the day for UWF was a No. 3 singles victory for Martinez over Delien Kleinhans.
For complete information on UWF Tennis, follow the team at @TennisUWF on X and @uwfwomenstennis on Instagram.
