VALDOSTA, Ga. - No. 17 UWF women's tennis (11-9, 7-3 GSC) came up short against a pair of strong Sunshine State Conference foes at the VSU Tennis Courts on Saturday and Sunday, falling 5-2 to both Florida Southern (8-11, 2-6 SSC) and No. 16 Tampa (14-3, 6-3 SSC), respectively.
 
Florida Southern 5, UWF 2
Guadalupe Martinez and Giuliana Sacco started off the day on a high note in doubles with a 6-4 win in the No. 3 matchup over Jolie Miller and Ronja Scheuermann. The Moccasins flipped the script to take the doubles point, as the No. 32 doubles team in the country in Kennedi Brown and Kelly Klaren won 6-3 over Aline Midori Da Silva and Carlota Verdu before Laia Pasini and Neli Sunjic claimed No. 2 6-2 over Luiza Daud and Nathalia Mossambani. 
 
After Mossambani fell at No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-1 to Olivia Bryant, Da Silva, freshly back into the ITA Singles Rankings, took a tight result at No. 2 over Beatriz Costa 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. It started to get away from the Argos on courts five and six, as Brown took a pair of 6-3 sets to defeat Zoe Yasan before Klaren came out on top in three over Daud 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Martinez scratched back a point with her 6-4, 6-3 win over Scheuermann, but Pasini, at No. 12 in the singles rankings, clinched the victory for the Mocs 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 over Verdu. 
 
Tampa 5, UWF 2
Sunday's match started off more inauspiciously as the Spartans swept doubles play. Da Silva and Verdu again faced a team in the 30s of the ITA Doubles Rankings as they took on No. 33 Julie Ball and Victoria Sanchez at the top of the lineup, falling 6-3. Nicole Cierniak and Kristina Miletic won 6-2 over Daud and Mossambani before Anine Wilberg and Savannah Williams took a hard-fought No. 3 matchup 7-6 (7-1) over Martinez and Sacco.
 
Da Silva promptly tied the contest as she easily took her matchup 6-2, 6-0 over Sanchez at No. 2 singles. Williams and Wilberg responded in kind with comfortable two-set wins of their own at Nos. 3 and 5, over Mossambani and Yasan, respectively. On court one, Ball, at No. 46 in the ITA Singles Rankings, lived up to her ranking by outlasting Verdu 7-6 (7-2), 6-1. Daud kept her squad within striking distance as she took a pair of 6-3 sets over Rebecca Presley at the bottom of the lineup. However, Tampa would seal the deal in a hard-fought super tiebreaker match at No. 4, as Miletic came back from a loss in the first frame to down Martinez 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8).
 
The Argos have one more chance to put another entry in the win column tomorrow morning as they finish their stay in Valdosta against Hawaii Pacific at 10 am ET/9 am CT.    
 
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