Feb. 16, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ga. - The West Florida (1-1) men's tennis team earned its first victory of the season over Georgia College & State University (3-1) on Saturday, with a 5-4 win. The Argos were playing their first match of the season against a NCAA Division II opponent, and the third ranked Argonauts defeated the 20th ranked Bobcats by virtue of winning the doubles, while splitting the singles.

In the doubles action, the Argonauts earned two out of three possible points. The West Florida men dropped the match in the first doubles position, when Eduardo Cavasotti (senior/Florianopolis, Brazil) and Luis Arboleda (junior/Medellin, Colombia) lost 8-6. In the second position, the team formed by Nicolas Barrientos (senior/Cali, Colombia) and Patrick Batman (sophomore, Apopka, Fla.) defeated Joao Casagrande and Matt Belenchia 8-4. In the third position Jose Ycaza (junior/Guayaquil, Equador) and Luiz Bernardi (senior/Campinas, Brazil) defeated Max Beliankou and Giovanne Nucci 8-5. After the doubles action the Argonauts had a 2-1 lead.

In the singles action both teams were even, earning three wins each. In the first position, Arboleda fell short to 13th ranked Erick Siqueira 6-4, 6-3. In the second spot, the 23rd ranked Cavasotti also suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss, giving the Bobcats the 3-2 lead. After easily rolling over Giovanne Nucci with a 6-1, 6-1 score, the 17th ranked Barrientos tied the match once again at 3-3. The Bobcats once again took the lead by earning a point at the fourth position, when Ycaza fell to his opponent by a 6-2, 6-2 score, giving the Bobcats the 4-3 advantage.

The next two points possible were earned by the Argonauts in the fifth and sixth positions. Bernardi needed three sets to defeat Joao Casagrande, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-2. Carlos Zamora (freshman/Copenhagen Denmark) earned his first win as an Argonaut, after claiming a 7-6(7), 6-2 win over Matt Belenchia, to give the Argonauts the 5-4 victory.

The West Florida earns its first win of the season and improved to 1-1 on the young season. The Argonauts return to action tomorrow, Sunday, 17th at Columbus, Ga., when they face the 26th ranked Columbus State Cougars (5-2) at 10:00 p.m. ET, to conclude the three-day road trip.

Singles
#1 Erick Siqueira (GCSU) def. Luis Arboleda (UWF); 6-4, 6-3
#2 Francis Yoshimoto (GCSU) def. Eduardo Cavasotti (UWF); 6-4, 6-3
#3 Nicolas Barrientos (UWF) def. Giovanne Nucci (GCSU); 6-1, 6-1
#4 Max Beliankou (GCSU) def. Jose Ycaza (UWF); 6-2, 6-2
#5 Luiz Bernardi (UWF) def. Joao Casagrande (GCSU); 6-4, 7-6(7), 6-2
#6 Carlos Zamora (UWF) def. Matt Belenchia (GCSU); 7-6(7), 6-2

Doubles
#1 Siqueira/Yoshimoto (GCSU) def. Cavasotti/Arboleda (UWF); 8-6
#2 Barrientos/Patrick Batman (UWF) def. Casagrande/Belenchia (GCSU); 8-4
#3 Ycaza/Bernardi (UWF) def. Beliankou/Nucci (GCSU); 8-5