#8 CSU Men Fall at #7 West Florida in Top 10 Battle

Pensacola, Fla. -- Columbus State knew it faced a tough three-day stretch beginning with Thursday's match at #7 West Florida and concluding with a visit to Columbus from top-ranked and defending national champion Armstrong Atlantic State. The eighth-ranked Cougars, despite tightly contested matches at virtually every position in singles and doubles, fell to the Argonauts on Thursday by a 7-2 score.

#12 Kevin Ducros of UWF had to go to three sets to beat #18 Frank Suarez of CSU 6-7, 7-5, 6-3. CSU picked up its only singles win at #5 where Christophe Noblet defeated Sean Gunnels in three sets, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. In doubles play, the #8 team of Suarez and Noblet knocked off the nation's #3 team in Ducros and Leandro Ferreira 8-5 for the other point won by the Cougars.

CSU now turns its attention to Saturday's showdown with the Pirates at 2 PM at the Blackmon Tennis Center. AASU has won the Peach Belt Conference and NCAA Division II titles in each of the last two seasons.

Here are Thursday's results:

Singles
#1 No. 12 Kevin Ducros (UWF) def. No. 18 Frank Suarez (CSU) 6-7, 7-5, 6-3
#2 Leandro Ferreira (UWF) def. Martin Shishkov (CSU) 7-5, 7-6
#3 No. 43 Andrey Pozhidaev (UWF) def. Olivier Simonet (CSU) 6-1, 7-5
#4 Patrick Bateman (UWF) def.Nemanja Djuric (CSU) 6-1, 6-3
#5 Christophe Noblet (CSU) def. Sean Gunnels (UWF) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5
#6 Mike Lue (UWF) def. Diego Motivar (CSU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3

Doubles
#1 No. 8 Suarez/Noblet (CSU) def. No. 3 Ducros/Ferreira (UWF) 8-5
#2 Pozhidaev/Lukas Larsson (UWF) def. Divljak/Djuric (CSU) 8-4
#3 Bateman/Gui Bertei (UWF) def. Motivar/Shishkov (CSU) 9-8