Prior to the GSC Championship, Nicolas Barrientos was awarded 2008 GSC East Player of the Year accolades.

April 19, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Ala. The third ranked West Florida Men's Tennis Team (20-3, 6-0 GSC) reentered the courts today, Saturday, April 19th, in its attempt to earn one more Gulf South Conference Championship. However, the Argonauts fell to second ranked Valdosta State (10-4, 1-1) by a 5-2 score in the semifinals of the tournament. The Argonauts entered the tournament as the first seeded, after being declared the regular conference season champion. The Argonauts earned its spot in the semifinals after blanking Christian Brothers, while the Valdosta Blazers also blanked Delta State. The Lagoon Park and O'Conner Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala. was the site of the second match between Valdosta State and the West Florida this season, as the Argonauts earned a win over the Blazers earlier this season at Valdosta, Ga.. However, this time the Blazers were too much for the Argos. The Argonauts earned the 2-1 lead after the doubles action, and the Blazers earned win is the first four singles spots, to finish the match at 5-2 and earn a spot in the final.

In the doubles action, the Argos stepped up, earning the lead as 18th ranked duo formed by Argonauts Nicolas Barrientos (senior/Cali, Colombia) and Patrick Bateman (freshman/Apopka, Fla.) defeated 8-4 Blazers Florian Halb and Richard Malobicky in the second doubles position Diego Zorzi (senior/Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Luis Arboleda (junior/Medellin, Colombia) formed Argonauts third duo to defeat 9-7 Blazers Michael Kuech and Otto Lenhart.

In singles, the Argos dropped four matches in straight sets. In the first spot, 27th ranked Barrientos 6-3, 6-1. Zorzi fell in the second position by a 7-6(5), 7=5 score. Arboleda dropped 6-3, 6-2 in the third position. Bernardi fell 6-0, 6-2 in the fourt spot, giving the Blazer the final score of 5-2 and the right to fight for the GSC Championship title.

With the loss, the Argonauts earned its fourth defeat of the season and now holds a 20-4 overall record, and was knocked out of the Gulf South Conference Tournament. The Argos will return to action as they qualified to the NCAA Preliminary Rounds on Thursday May 8th. The opponent and time has not been announced yet.

Doubles
#1 Ekkenga/Jelinek (VSU) def. Cavasotti/Bernardi (UWF), 8-4
#2 Barrientos/Bateman (UWF) def. Halb/Malobicky (VSU), 8-4
#3 Zorzi/Arboleda (UWF) def. Lenhart/Kuech (VSU), 9-7

Singles
#1 Florian Halb (VSU) def. Nicolas Barrientos (UWF), 6-3, 6-1
#2 Joerg Ekkenga (VSU) def. Diego Zorzi (UWF), 7-6, 7-5
#3 Leos Jelinek (VSU) def. Luis Arboleda (UWF), 6-3, 6-2
#4 Richard Malobicky (VSU) def. Luiz Bernardi (UWF), 6-0, 6-2