May 10, 2007

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - On their march to a third national title, top-ranked West Florida (27-3) defeated fourth ranked University of South Carolina-Upstate, 5-3, in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships at Sanlando Park. The Argonauts had to make a comeback and win the match.

The Argonauts earned only one point in the doubles matches. The second ranked team of Dante Bottini (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Nicolas Barrientos (Cali, Colombia) won 8-6 in the first position, improving to a 24-3 doubles record this season. Eduardo Cavasotti (Florianopolis, Brazil) and his partner Luiz Bernardi (Campinas, Brazil) lost their match 8-4 in the third position to tie score. After having a 5-4 lead and up a break, the 19th ranked team formed by Diego Zorzi (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Luis Arboleda (Medellin, Colombia) were defeated by their opponents, 8-5, giving the Spartans the 2-1 lead after the doubles action.

The Argonauts had to fight through the singles action to earn four more points. The match was more exciting when seventh ranked Zorzi was defeated in straight sets in the first position, and the Spartans to a 3-1 lead. The Argonauts had to make a comeback playing in the second position. Sixth ranked Bottini defeated his opponent in straight sets to shorten the distance on the scoreboard. Simultaneously, the other Argonauts had a one set lead on all the other courts. In the sixth position, Bernardi was able to finish without much trouble in straight sets, tieing the score at 3-3. The Argonauts finally took the lead when Cavasotti had to go through a tie-breaker in the second set to give the Argonauts the 4-3 advantage.

The Argos needed one more victory to seal the win. In the third position, Barrientos and Arboleda in the fifth position, split sets against their opponents and had to play a third set. Arboleda had to fight a hamstring cramp when the third set was tied 3-3. Simultaneously, Barrientos needed nine match points to finally win the third set 7-5 and give the Argonauts the 5-3 victory.

"It was a very tough match. I knew the team needed the point, so I just gave my best to win that match," said Barrientos. He cramped after winning the match point.

West Florida will return to action tomorrow, May 11th in the semifinal against sixth-ranked Lynn University (22-4) at 9:00 a.m. EST. Lynn University defeated 21st ranked Hawaii Pacific University in Thursday's quarterfinal. West Florida defeated Lynn University 5-4 earlier this season.

Results:
#1 Singles: Stepan Dumitrescu (USC-Upstate) def. Diego Zorzi (UWF)
#2 Singles: Dante Bottini (UWF) def. Sandy Franz (USC-Upstate), DNF
#3 Singles: Nicolas Barrientos (UWF) def. Javier Tori (USC-Upstate) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
#4 Singles: Eduardo Cavasotti (UWF) def. Sebastian Gonzales (USC-Upstate) 6-2, 6-1
#5 Singles: Luis Arboleda (UWF) against Leandro Osorio (USC-Upstate), DNF
#6 Singles: Luiz Bernardi(UWF) def. Jack Roux(USC-Upstate), DNF
#1 Doubles: N. Barrientos/D. Bottini (UWF) def. S. Dumitrescu/R.Airaldi (USC-Upstate), 8-6
#2 Doubles: S. Franz/J. Tori (USC-Upstate) def. D. Zorzi/L. Arboleda (UWF) 8-5
#3 Doubles: S. Gonzales/L. Osorio (USC-Upstate) def. E. Cavasotti/L. Bernardi (UWF) 8-4

(By Gui Amaral Jasmin)