GSC Championship Central
 
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - No. 4 and top-seeded UWF men's tennis (17-5, 8-1 GSC) won the doubles point but dropped the first three singles matches and could not make up the difference in the GSC semifinals in a 4-2 upset loss to No. 26 and 5-seed Mississippi College (13-9, 6-3 GSC) at Lagoon Park on Sunday. UWF dropped its first decision in 16 matches dating back to March 1 and the Choctaws completed a season sweep of the Argos, their first wins in the teams' 14 meetings dating back to 2013.
 
Much like the women's team in their quarterfinal matchup with MC on Saturday, things were looking up for the Argos as they took doubles. Diego Duran and Sebastian Rondon built on their unbeaten streak, easily dispatching Diego De Cooman and Antoine Nivault 6-1 on court two. Alex Benichou Blanchard and Rafael Sabio proceeded to equalize with a 6-3 win at No. 1 over Albin Ekenros and Bernardo Costa. However, Tomas Leston and Sebastian Sotelo lived up to their ranked status and narrowly came out on top 7-6 (7-5) in a hard-fought battle with Joe Jarvis and Alvaro Saint Martin.
 
Mississippi College was unfazed by the tight doubles loss and quickly tied the match before taking the lead. At the No. 4 position, Jarvis took a quick 6-2, 6-4 win over Mateo Martinez in the only two-set singles matchup for the contest. After dropping the first set on court 5, Sergio Ramirez Ocana pulled off a huge feat in taking down Duran 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. It was the first completed matchup Duran has lost this season, as his only previous blemish also came against the Choctaws when he had to retire from his matchup against Jarvis two months ago. Duran's singles record now drops to 14-2. 
 
At the top of the lineup, Rondon faced off with Blanchard, perhaps the only freshman in the conference whose resume matches Duran's. The No. 3 player in the ITA Singles Rankings and the winner of both GSC Player of the Year and GSC Freshman of the Year, Blanchard also dropped his opening set before coming back to take down No. 22 Rondon 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 and give his team a significant 3-1 lead. 
 
Ekenros got a point back for his team with a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-0 win over Saint Martin, and it all came down to the No. 2 and No. 6 matchups with Sotelo against Sabio and Leston against Nivault, respectively, as UWF needed both to win. The Choctaws took the opening set in both by close margins before each Argo extended his contest with tiebreaker wins in the second frame. While Sotelo was close to a win as he led 5-1 in the final set, Nivault led 4-0 before Leston won three straight games of his own to pull within one, truly taking this contest down to the wire. However, Nivault would take the final two points of the set for the 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win, leaving Sotelo's matchup to be discontinued and MC to celebrate and advance to take on Valdosta State in the GSC title match tomorrow morning. 
 
The Argos now have to wait for the NCAA DII Men's Tennis Selection Show on May 6 at 8 pm ET/7 pm CT to find out their postseason destination. With their regular season conference championship and current No. 4 seed in the South Regional rankings, they are almost assured a berth in the NCAA South Regional regardless of today's outcome. The Choctaws, on the other hand, are currently on the outside looking in at No. 10 of the regional rankings, so their best bet to make the field is to win tomorrow and receive an automatic bid.   

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