Women’s Tennis Goes Down 5-2 to No. 72 North Florida

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. – Air Force Women's Tennis, facing an undefeated North Florida in its home debut, gave the Ospreys their greatest challenge in weeks, but fell 5-2 on Friday afternoon at Cadet West Gym.

Air Force snapped UNF's six-match shutout streak, taking the doubles point and a straight- set win in singles play. But two-set UNF singles victories on courts three through six lifted North Florida to its eleventh consecutive win.

The Falcons earned a 1-0 advantage to start the day, earning doubles wins on courts three and two in order. Air Force duos Abby Cotuna/Sofia Mavor and Maya Michalski/Jariahlyn Rhoades both powered to a 4-0 lead in their respective sets on the way to 6-3 and 6-4 wins – defeating a pair of UNF duos which combined for an 8-2 dual doubles record.

As a whole, Air Force slipped early on in singles and began to rally late, but North Florida mustered straight set wins on courts three (Aryana Bartlett vs. Mavor – 6-1, 6-3), five (Gabby Goyins vs. Selvan, 6-3, 6-1), six (Anslee Long vs. Rhoades, 6-4, 6-4) and four (May Fadida vs. Michalski, 6-3, 6-4) in order to clinch.

Senior Arianna Van Houweling picked up Air Force's lone singles victory of the day. Facing Isabel Oliveira on court two, Van Houweling battled to a 7-3 win over Oliveira in the first-set tiebreak, then powered to a 6-0 shutout in the second set for the win.

Cotuna, competing against UNF's Laurie Barendse on court one, fell 6-3 in the first set and took a 6-1 second. Cotuna trailed in the third set by as much as 5-1 before rallying to consecutive 40-0 wins, pulling back to 5-3 before falling in the final game.

Up Next:
Air Force Women's Tennis (1-9, 0-0 MW) is back in Cadet East Gym hosting South Dakota on March 6 at 5 p.m. MT.

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