University of North Florida
West Florida
UNF falls in NCAA final
5/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 14, 2005
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - The University of North Florida men's tennis team's quest for a national title ended on Saturday with a 5-0 loss to West Florida in the NCAA finals in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
Ninth-ranked UNF dropped three hard-fought doubles matches to the top-ranked Argonauts, which helped West Florida pave its way to a second-straight national title.
Despite the loss, the Ospreys capped an up and down season with an improbable run to the finals, winning the mid-Atlantic regional before defeating Southwest Baptist, BYU-Hawaii and Ouachita Baptist in the national draw.
"All of the credit goes to the team," UNF head coach Tom Schrader said. "This team was hungry and everyone believed in themselves."
The Ospreys lost out in the national semi-finals last season, but were able to go one step further in their final match as an NCAA institution.
"It was important to us to leave Division II with class," Schrader said.
UNF will compete as a Division I institution next season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
West Florida took an early lead in doubles when the No. 1 team of Paulius Jurkenas and Mario Vergara defeated UNF's German Escallon and Leonardo Gomes.
Momentum continued to swing in West Florida's favor when Diego Zorzi and German Dalmagro broke North Florida's Eduardo Pereira and Elad Gabay in the 10th game of their set to take a 6-4 advantage. The West Florida duo went on to win the next two games to take the match 8-4.
UNF looked as though it would capture one doubles match when the No. 3 doubles team of Damien De Polignac and Jose Maria Terrera took an early break against Jonas Mouly and Nicolas Barrientos then had a pair of match points in game 13 of the set. Mouly and Barrientos went on to win seven of the next eight points to tie the match and eventually force a tiebreaker.
Each team had opportunities to win the tiebreaker before Mouly and Barrientos finally won it 10-8.
"Doubles are always crucial," Schrader said. "We had chances at No. 3 doubles. It was a beautifully played match."
With momentum in its favor, West Florida took five of the first sets in singles before finally closing the match out.
With the loss, UNF finishes its season with a 23-7 mark.
Doubles
1.No. 3 Jurkenas/Vergara (UWF) def. Escallon/Gomes (UNF) 8-3
2.Zorzi/Dalmagro (UWF) def. Pereira/Gabay (UNF) 8-4
3.Mouly/Barrientos (UWF) def. De Polignac/Terrera (UNF) 9-8 (10-8)
Singles
1.No.9 Paulius Jurkenas (UWF) vs. No. 10 Eduardo Pereira (UNF) DNF
2.No. 31 Jonas Mouly (UWF) vs. No. 27 Jose Maria Terrera (UNF) DNF
3.Mario Vergara (UWF) vs. German Escallon (UNF) DNF
4.German Dalmagro (UWF) def. Leonardo Gomes (UNF) 6-2, 6-1
5.Nicolas Barrientos (UWF) vs. Elad Gabay (UNF) DNF
6.Karol Szmurlo (UWF) def. Glen Marshall (UNF) 6-3, 6-2
