PENSACOLA, Fla. - No. 9 UWF men's tennis (10-4, 4-1 GSC) returns to the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex to host its first conference matches in over a month. In a much-anticipated contest on Saturday, March 30, at 10 am, the Argos do battle for the second time this season with the No. 2 team in the land, Valdosta State (9-2, 2-0 GSC), before playing No. 22 Auburn Montgomery (9-6, 4-0 GSC) on April 3 at 1 pm.
 
Previewing Valdosta State:
The Argos get their post-spring break schedule kicked off in a big way, as they welcome bitter rival VSU to Pensacola. On top of their two conference wins, the Blazers are 6-2 against other teams in the ITA national rankings, including their win over UWF, then ranked No. 5 nationally, in the ITA Division II National Men's Team Indoor Championship last month. VSU lost its other two matches in that event to No. 3 Flagler and No. 7 UIndy, their only setbacks this season. Another of its ranked wins was over No. 5 Barry, avenging the Blazers' loss last season in the national semifinals that snapped their perfect 21-0 mark and gave the Bucs their fourth consecutive national championship.   
 
Head coach Derrick Racine will be going against his alma mater, led by legendary coach John Hansen, a 22-time conference Coach of the Year in his 52nd year with VSU. Hansen has coached 24 GSC Players of the Year, 14 men and 10 women, and led the men's team to national titles in 2006 and 2011. This year's edition of the Blazers features three nationally ranked ITA singles players in No. 5 Takeshi Taco, No. 15 Boruch Skierkier and No. 26 Luca Mack. Mack teams up with Rodrigo Carvalho to form the No. 14 doubles pairing in the ITA doubles rankings, while Skierkier and Jan Skerbatis are the No. 40 team. 
 
UWF holds a slight edge in wins in the tense rivalry 23-20, though it has lost the last three meetings, including a sweep last season in both the regular season and the NCAA South Regional Championship. 20 of the teams' all-time matchups have come in the postseason, either in the GSC Championship or South Regional Championship. Before last year, the Argos had won the last four meetings between the sides in regionals. 
 
Previewing Auburn Montgomery:
After three days' rest, UWF draws another nationally ranked GSC opponent in AUM. The Warhawks are 3-5 against other nationally ranked teams, some of which are common opponents for UWF. AUM owns wins over No. 20 UT Tyler, No. 21 Ouachita Baptist and No. 13 Mississippi College, while losing to No. 8 Columbus State, No. 17 North Georgia, No. 18 Midwestern State, No. 10 Florida Southern and No. 1 Saint Leo. 
 
AUM is led by first-year head coach Michael O'Brien, who has coached and played at all different levels throughout the state of Alabama. He started his college career at Central Alabama Community College. After playing at CACC, he transferred to former GSC rival North Alabama, where he helped lead the Lions to the D2 national tournament, before moving again to play his final year at D1 South Alabama, where he won a Sun Belt Conference title and defeated the University of Alabama in the opening round of the D1 national tournament. 
 
The Warhawks bring in the No. 30 ITA doubles team in Adrian Contreras and Titouan Le Maout, as well as the No. 67 singles player, Giuseppe Bonaiuti. UWF leads the all-time series 11-6. In contrast to the Valdosta State series, the Argos and Warhawks have only met once in the postseason, coming last season in a 4-1 AUM win in the GSC Semifinals in Montgomery, Ala., just over five miles from the AUM campus. After dropping the first five matches in the series, UWF won its 11 consecutively, dating from 2012 to last season's regular season meeting at AUM until the latter broke the streak in the conference tournament. 
 
UWF Updates:
The Argos moved up eight spots in this week's ITA rankings by dint of their 3-0 week, which they started at No. 17. With the performances, UWF enters the Valdosta State match on an eight-game winning streak, dating back to its loss at UT Tyler on March 1, at which point it was 2-4 with losses to nationally ranked GSC opponents VSU and Mississippi College.
 
The Argos have flipped the script completely since then, helped by the play of two nationally ranked singles players in No. 21 Sebastian Rondon and No. 27 Sebastian Sotelo, who boast 12-2 and 8-5 marks, respectively. Rondon will be looking for revenge on Saturday, as one of his two losses this season was to the Blazers in Indianapolis, while Sotelo will aim to build on his eight-match winning streak that has matched the Argos' undefeated stretch. Also aiding in the success of the Blue and Green is the play of freshman Diego Duran, coming off his third GSC Freshman of the Week award. Duran owns a 9-1 singles record, with the lone loss due to retirement at Mississippi College, while defeating VSU's Christian Wedel, then the No. 29 singles player in the nation, 6-4, 6-2 in February. 
 
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