PENSACOLA, Fla. - No. 14 UWF women's tennis (9-6, 5-2 GSC) fought hard but could not best Valdosta State (4-7, 3-1 GSC) as the Blazers won the doubles point and held on in singles to claim a narrow 4-3 win at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex on Saturday morning.
The Argos entered the match with a 19-game winning streak over VSU. It has now ended just shy of No. 20, as the visitors head back to Georgia with their first win over UWF since 2010, when they swept the series 3-0 with wins in Pensacola and Valdosta in the regular season before another in Montgomery, Ala., in the GSC Tournament Finals.
The Blazers secured the advantage early as they claimed doubles with wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 matchups. Viktoriia Fedorova and Denisa Hanakova won 6-2 over
Giuliana Sacco and
Jenna Svatos before Natalie Rainke and Aneta Poborilova did the same against
Luiza Daud and
Carlota Verdu.
Guadalupe Martinez and
Aline Midori Da Silva won 6-3 at No. 3 over Olivia Pezo and Kayla Greco to generate some momentum.
Da Silva, currently at No. 14 in the ITA South Regional singles rankings and No. 63 in the nationals, quickly evened the score with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Hanakova at No. 2 singles. The Blazers quickly got the upper hand again as Poborilova defeated Martinez in two 6-4 sets and Pezo took down Svatos 6-3, 7-5. Verdu scratched one back with a three-set victory over Rainke, the No. 19 singles player in the South Region, at the No. 1 position by scores of 3-6, 6-2 and 6-3. Though Daud ended the day with a 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) win at No. 6 over Fedorova, it was not enough as Greco clinched the VSU win over
Nathalia Mossambani 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4.
The Argos will lick their wounds from the tough loss but cannot do so for very long as they welcome Auburn Montgomery, newly minted as the No. 6 team in the country in the latest ITA team rankings, to Pensacola for their next contest on April 3 at 1 pm.
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