May 9, 2007

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - Continuing their march to third national title, top- ranked West Florida (26-3) defeated 20th ranked Abilene Christian (23-10), 5-0, in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships at Sanlando Park. The Argonauts dominated the Wildcats without dropping a match to improve to a 2-0 in the all-time series.

"I thought we played solid in doubles, and once we got the 3-0 lead, it took the pressure off in singles," said head coach Derrick Racine. "Everyone won the first set of their singles matches and fortunately Eduardo (Cavasotti) and Nicolas (Barrientos) were able to close out the match."

The Argonauts swept the doubles action. Dante Bottini (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Nicolas Barrientos (Cali, Colombia) pulled out a 8-6 win in the first position, improving their doubles record to 23-3 on the season. Argonaut teammates Diego Zorzi (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Luis Arboleda (Medellin, Colombia) defeated their opponents 8-5, improving to 21-1 this season.

Following the doubles action, the Argonauts earned two more points in singles play. Eduardo Cavasotti (Florianopolis, Brazil) had little trouble in defeating his opponent 6-2, 6-1, while improving his singles record to 11-10. Barrientos easily won over his opponent, 6-2, 6-0, improving his singles record to 15-9 and completing the West Florida win.

West Florida will return to action tomorrow in the quarterfinals against fourth-ranked South Carolina-Upstate (23-4) at 10:30 a.m. EST. South Carolina-Upstate defeated 17th ranked Concordia (N.Y.) in Wednesday's Round of 16. West Florida defeated South Carolina-Upstate, 6-3, earlier this season.

Results:

#1 Singles: Diego Zorzi (UWF) against J.J. Nunez (ACU), DNF
#2 Singles: Dante Bottini (UWF) against Ryan Hudson (ACU), DNF
#3 Singles: Nicolas Barrientos (UWF) def. George Carstens (ACU) 6-0, 6-2
#4 Singles: Eduardo Cavasotti (UWF) def. Kevin Beeby (ACU) 6-2, 6-1
#5 Singles: Luis Arboleda (UWF) against Luke Hawk (ACU), DNF
#6 Singles: Luiz Bernardi(UWF) against Bryce Hicks (ACU), DNF

#1 Doubles: N. Barrientos/D. Bottini (UWF) def. G. Carstens/J.J. Nunez (ACU), 8-6
#2 Doubles: D. Zorzi/L. Arboleda (UWF) def. B. Hicks/L. Hawk (ACU), 8-5
#3 Doubles: E. Cavasotti/L. Bernardi (UWF) def. K. Beedy/R. Hudson (ACU), 8-4

(By Gui Amaral Jasmin)