PENSACOLA, Fla. – Facing the reigning Division II Men's Tennis National Champions, the No. 8 Saint Leo men's tennis team fell to No. 1 University of West Florida by a 5-4 final score at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex, Wednesday evening.

The loss gives the Lions a record of 11-4 overall while the hosting Argonauts improve to 11-1 on the season.

UWF took a clean sweep of doubles play, as the Argos were able to outduel their Lions counterparts.  West Florida duo Elio Latella and Warren Kuhn defeated Alex Theiler and Bruno Sisti, 8-5 before Kenny Brasil and Alex Peyrot outdueled Egor Panyushkin and Netanel Alcabas by an 8-6 set. Argos tandem Pablo Tellez and Pablo Borrero bested Guillaume Vanelven and Fons Verberne by an 8-2 score to take a 3-0 advantage into singles action.

Saint Leo took four of the six singles flights as Theiler defeated No. 8 Peyrot by retirement before Panyushkin bested Kuhn by a pair of 6-4 sets.  Vanelven won the fourth flight 6-2 and 7-6 over Borrero as UWF's No. 30 Brasil trumped Alcabas 6-3 and 6-2.  The Argos clinched the match as Douglas Boe defeated Jacobo Gonzalez-Tarrio in three sets (7-5, 3-6, 6-1) to give the top-ranked UWF squad the win.

Sisti defeated Latella in the final flight by 7-6, 4-6 and 6-1 sets to conclude the contest with a 5-4 final score.

The Lions will conclude its spring road series with another top-25 matchup, battling No. 15 Midwestern State University at 10:30 a.m. (EST) on Thursday, March 19.

For more information on the Saint Leo men's tennis program, visit SaintLeoLions.com.  Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.