Feb. 18, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ga. - The third ranked West Florida Men's tennis team earned their second victory of the season, by defeating the 26th ranked Columbus State University Cougars (3-2) on Sunday, with a 7-2 win. This was the Argonauts second consecutive win over a nationally ranked Division II squad, while their lone loss was to the top ranked NAIA team. Nicolas Barrientos helped lead the way with wins in both singles and doubles.
The Argonauts did not have much trouble en route to sweeping the doubles action. In the first doubles position, Luis Arboleda (junior/Medellin, Colombia) and Eduardo Cavasotti (senior/Florianopolis, Brazil) dropped only two games to defeat the Cougars Luis Gonzalez and Paul Van Rensburg, 8-2. In the second doubles spot, Nicolas Barrientos (senior/Cali, Colombia) and Patrick Batman (sophomore/Apopka, Fla.) defeated the Cougars duo formed by Frank Suarez and Hernando Ortiz, by an 8-4 score. Meanwhile, Luiz Bernardi (senior/Campinas, Brazil) and Jose Ycaza (junior/ Guayaquil, Ecuador) rolled over the Cougars team of Guillermo Echevarria and Filip Cojbasic, 8-3. After the doubles play, the Argonauts had a comfortable 3-0 lead.
In singles action the Argonauts still dominated, by defeating four out of six possible points. The Argonauts only dropped their matches in the first and second positions respectively, with Arboleda losing his match 7-5, 6-4 and ,the 23rd ranked, Cavasotti dropped his match 7-6, 6-4. In the third position, the 17th ranked Barrientos, rolled over Paul Van Rensburd by a 6-2, 6-3 score. In the fourth singles spot, Ycaza did not drop a game in the first set to earn his first singles win of the season by defeating Luiz Gonzalez 6-0, 6-4. Luiz Bernardi went through a tough match before defeating Hernando Ortiz 7-5, 6-3. In the sixth position, Carlos Zamora needed a tie-breaker in the first set to defeat Filip Cojbasic 7-6(7-4), 6-2, and help give the Argonauts the 7-2 win over the Cougars.
The Argonauts earned the second win of the season and improved to 2-1 on the young season. The Argonauts will return to action next Sunday, February 24, 2008, when they stay on the road to face unranked Southeastern Louisiana at 10:00a.m.
Singles
#1 Frank Suarez (CSU) def. Luis Arboleda (UWF); 7-5, 6-4
#2 Guillermo Echevarria (CSU) def. Eduardo Cavasotti (UWF); 7-6, 6-4
#3 Nicolas Barrientos (UWF) def. Paul Van Rensburg (CSU); 6-3, 6-2
#4 Jose Ycaza (UWF) def.; Luis Gonzalez (CSU) def.; 6-0, 6-4
#5 Luiz Bernardi (UWF) def. Hernando Ortiz (CSU); 7-5, 6-3
#6 Carlos Zamora (UWF) def. Filip Cojbasic (CSU); 7-6(4), 6-2
Doubles
#1 Cavasotti/Arboleda (UWF) def.; Gonzalez/Van Rensburg (CSU) def.; 8-2
#2 Barrientos/Patrick Batman (UWF) def. Suarez/Ortiz (CSU); 8-4
#3 Ycaza/Bernardi (UWF) def. Echevarria/Cojbasic (CSU); 8-3
