PENSACOLA, Fla. - No. 17 UWF women's tennis (11-7, 7-3 GSC) heads on the road for its final four contests of the regular season in Georgia. The first three will be neutral-site matches on the campus of Valdosta State this weekend before the team travels to Columbus State for the match that was called off last month due to rain.
 
Argo Updates:
The Argos had been on a three-game skid starting with their last trip to Georgia, as that week ended with a loss to No. 3 North Georgia in Columbus before UWF returned home and suffered GSC losses to No. 37 Valdosta State and No. 5 Auburn Montgomery. The Argos got two back in the win column with conference wins over Christian Brothers and Delta State to finish up their home slate. UWF moves up a spot in the ITA National Rankings and will look to climb higher and get better seeding in the postseason as three of the four upcoming matches will be against ranked opponents. With a 6-1 overall week and a 3-0 finish in singles play, Aline Midori Da Silva climbs back into the ITA Singles Rankings at the No. 74 spot after spending a week out of it.
 
Previewing Florida Southern:
The three contests in Valdosta, Ga., will all begin at 10 am ET/9 am CT, with the first two against opponents from the Sunshine State Conference. The Argos will start the weekend on Saturday morning against Florida Southern (7-10, 2-6 SSC). UWF holds a 10-4 record in the all-time series and has won seven of the last eight meetings, including five in a row from 2014-18. The Blue and Green won the last matchup 5-2 at FSC on their home courts in Lakeland, Fla., while the Moccasins won the last meeting in Pensacola 4-3 in 2019. The teams have also met twice in the NCAA South Regional, with UWF taking both those meetings in 2011 and 2012. The Mocs are coached by Trish Riddell, in her 19th season leading the FSC women's program. She has led the program to 11 NCAA Championship appearances while coaching 39 All-SSC winners and 11 ITA All-Americans.
 
Previewing Tampa:
On Sunday, the Argos will take on No. 16 Tampa (12-3, 6-3 SSC) in a first-time meeting between the programs, an interesting twist given that UWF-Tampa has become a rather intense regional rivalry in baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball. Like FSC, UT will be coming off a match the day before against the hosting Blazers of VSU. The Spartans are led by Al DuFaux, in his 25th season as the program's head coach, who has led them to winning records ten times. He also previously worked as an umpire for the United States Tennis Association and the Women's Tennis Association, where he officiated matches that featured the likes of Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Monica Seles.
 
Previewing Hawaii Pacific:
UWF will wrap up the weekend with a Monday contest against No. 42 Hawaii Pacific (8-10, 5-3 PacWest). The Sharks enter the matchup with an 8-2 lead in the all-time series with the Argos. All but one of the meetings have come in the regular season, but only three have come on one of the teams' home campuses. UWF has hosted HPU in Pensacola in 2015, 2016 and 2018, while the former has never traveled to the latter's campus in Kailua, Hawaii. The programs' lone meeting in the postseason was in the 2018 national semifinals in Surprise, Ariz., which UWF won 5-4 in an epic comeback after trailing 4-1. 
 
The Sharks are led by interim head coach Hendrik Bode, who is in his 13th season coaching the men's team, and assistant coach Chelsea Patton after the resignation of 17-year women's head coach Lauren Conching, Bode's wife. Bode is an alum of the program, as he was a member of three NCAA national tournament teams and ranked as high as No. 5 in the country in singles. 
 
Previewing Columbus State:
On Saturday, April 20, the Argos will finish off their regular season with their rescheduled match at No. 14 Columbus State (11-5, 4-0 PBC) at 11 am ET/10 am CT. This match will be the 13th meeting between the programs in their history. CSU leads the series 8-4, but the Argos won the previous matchup last season, claiming a tight match 4-3 as Carlota Verdu took the clinching singles match 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. The teams have only met in the regular season and the only times they didn't play on one of the teams' campuses was when they met in the 2022 and 2021 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship. The teams split those matchups, each winning 4-0. 
 
The Lady Cougars are coached by Evan Isaacs, a former CSU player who is now in his 25th season as head coach of his alma mater with an all-time overall record of 417-112 and a 183-27 record in conference play. He has led the program to the national tournament in each season since his hiring in 2002 and has coached over 50 All-Americans and over 100 all-conference players, while winning six Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year awards. 
 
For complete information on UWF Tennis, follow the team at @TennisUWF on X and @uwfwomenstennis on Instagram.