PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of Alabama in Huntsville tennis teams put forth a strong effort against two of the nation's top teams on Saturday, but the men fell 8-1 to No. 3 West Florida while the ladies lost 9-0 to the ninth-ranked Argos. The men's team falls to 11-10 (2-4 Gulf South Conference), and the women's squad drops to 7-8 (3-4 GSC).
 
In the women's match, the team had opportunities to earn points as Jessica Groupierre won the first set of her No. 1 singles contest but ended up falling 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (9), and Groupierre and doubles partner Kasi McDonald were competitive at the third position in doubles in dropping an 8-4 decision.
 
"I am proud of the effort I have received from the ladies this weekend,” said Head Coach Daniel Finn. “They have played some of the best teams in the country and were clearly outmatched but stood their ground and were more than ready to battle regardless. We have a big match this week coming up with a good North Alabama team so we will take this experience home and get ready.”
 
In the other singles matches, no Lady Charger was shutout by the tough Argo lineup, and Katie Bryant was the closest to matching Groupierre's showing as she fell 6-4, 6-2.
 
On the men's side, the doubles pairing of Jose Soto and Nestor Perez battled the country's fourth-rated duo in West Florida's No. 1 doubles and fought hard in falling 8-4, while the third-position grouping of Christopher Kano and Raphael Oliveira came close to registering a point but suffered an 8-5 setback.
 
“Even though we lost today, I have to say I am very happy with the way we battled,” Finn said following the match. 'Our guys really played non-intimidated tennis against one of the top teams in the country. We will try to take the positive out of this and keep improving and moving towards finishing the season off strong and getting ready for the conference tourney.”
 
The point for the Chargers came from Kano as he won 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) at the No. 4 position in singles play, and the team received a valiant effort from Soto who took on the third-ranked singles player in Division II and won six games including a close 7-5 loss in the first set before dropping the second set 6-1.
 
The teams will return to action on Tuesday when they wrap up GSC play with a noon match in Florence at North Alabama.