VALDOSTA, Ga. - No. 7 and 5-seed UWF men's tennis (17-6, 8-1 GSC) went up against No. 4 and 4-seed Barry (15-6, 4-3 SSC) in a first round contest of the NCAA DII South Regional on the campus of Valdosta State on Monday morning. A singles win by
Sebastian Sotelo in his last match as an Argonaut was not enough to top the four-time defending national champions, as the Buccaneers continued their recent trend as a thorn in UWF's side, winning 4-1 to win their seventh match in a row over the Argos and end their season once again for the fifth time in the last six postseasons.
Barry took doubles with little trouble, as they took the point with quick wins on courts one and two thanks to their two ranked doubles pairings. Joao Ferreria and David Rieme, No. 22 in the ITA Doubles Rankings, easily swept the matchup at the top of the lineup 6-0 over
Bernardo Costa and
Albin Ekenros. Tim Riedel and Bastien Rieme, ranked No. 18, then handed
Diego Duran and
Sebastian Rondon their first loss as a doubles team in a 6-3 decision to go up 1-0.
After Sotelo's and
Tomas Leston's doubles contest went unfinished trailing 4-3 to Leo Caill and Adam Lynch, the senior from Resistencia, Argentina, made a mark on his final collegiate contest at the No. 2 position with an impressive 6-2, 6-3 victory over Lynch, the No. 9 singles player in the country. Riedel proceeded to give the lead back to his team with a 7-6 (7-0), 6-4 win at No. 4 over
Mateo Martinez. In another singles match that went to a tiebreaker in the first round, Caill came out on top on court six over
Joaquin Estevez 7-6 (9-7), 6-2. With time running out, it came down to the odd-numbered matchups. While Rondon led Ferreria, the No. 6 singles player in the nation, in the third set at the top of lineup, David Rieme finished off the contest and set up a second-round regional matchup against Valdosta State tomorrow in pulling out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 3 over Ekenros.
Despite the disappointing outcome, UWF, the No. 5 team in the South Region, finishes its season with its third consecutive unblemished home record, including a 4-3 victory over the eventual GSC champion and the No. 1 South Region squad in VSU to break a tie at the top of the standings and enable UWF to eventually claim the regular season conference title.
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