Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ga. – The No. 19 University of North Georgia men's tennis team suffered a non-conference loss to No. 17 West Florida Saturday afternoon. The Nighthawks fell 5-2 after winning the double point. UNG then dropped five of six singles matches en route to the loss. 

The Nighthawks now 9-3 on the year and 1-0 in conference play with a pair of PBC matches on the horizon against No. 10 Lander and No. 3 Flagler. 

In the doubles bout, senior Giulio Sassi and freshman Marcos Castellanos combined for a 6-4 win in the #1 doubles. 

In the #2 doubles, it was UNG sophomore Eliseo Alcalde and junior Robin Eldin teaming up for a tight victory in the tiebreaker. The pair won 7-6 by taking the tiebreaker set 7-2 to secure the doubles point for the Nighthawks. 

Taking a 1-0 lead into the singles portion, West Florida quickly got back on track with a 6-1, 6-3 win from junior Albin Ekenros in the #3 singles match. 

Being complete in 53 minutes, the #3 singles match was the only competition in the singles portion that took less than two hours.As the five other matches slowly came to completion, West Florida built a lead. 

Before Sassi could take down Argonaut sophomore Sebastian Rondon in the #1 singles, West Florida had already secured the match victory with five singles wins. 

Sassi still made good by coming from behind for his seventh singles win of the year. After dropping the first set 6-2, the Mendrisio, Switzerland native rallied to win 6-4 and 7-5 in the last two sets. 

Now the Nighthawks return to Dahlonega to take on No. 10 Lander in their second Peach Belt match of the spring. The match starts from the UNG Tennis Complex at Yahoola Creek at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 29.