West Florida takes down No. 6 Columbus St.

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- West Florida defeated No. 6 Columbus State 5-1 on Saturday afternoon. West Florida (20-4, 9-0 GSC) wraps up the regular season on an 11-match winning streak as it heads into Gulf South Conference tournament play on April 17-19 in Montgomery, Ala.

Monika Kochanova was the lone member of the team's senior class and was honored before the match for her contributions to the program.

"I was really happy for Monika on senior day as she played a terrific match against the No. 2-ranked player in the nation," head coach Derrick Racine said. "Having Monika on our team for the last two years has been pivotal to our success. She has been a real leader on and off the court; her teammates really look up to her and respect the things she does in practice and also the things she does off the court to make us a better team.”

The No. 5-ranked doubles team of Kochanova and Laure-Eline Faure defeated No. 10 Cigui/Leon 8-5 at No. 1 doubles. Kochanova and Faure end the regular season riding a 10-match winning streak and with an 18-2 overall record.

Katarina Dikosavljevic and Francesca Fanchin won a very close match at No. 2 doubles 9-8 (1-7) and wrap up the regular season undefeated at No. 2 doubles (11-0). Nina Bubelova and Fernanda Amaral won 8-3 at No. 3 doubles and finishes the regular season with a 19-3 overall record.

“We have been working a lot on doubles lately and it really paid off today against the No. 6-ranked team in the nation,” Racine said. “When you can win three doubles it's a game changer. Katarina and Francesca have been putting in a lot of extra work and it's really starting to show in their results.”

No. 9 Kochanova fell to No. 2 Paola Cigui 3-6, 6-2, 0-1 at No. 1 singles. Kochanova ends the regular season with a 14-4 overall record at No. 1 singles.

Faure defeated No. 14 Beatriz Leon at No. 2 singles 7-5, 6-2 while Sarai Flores won at No. 6 singles 6-1, 7-6.