LAKELAND - Halfway through the season, and the Florida Southern Moccasins have yet to lose a match, and in Wednesday's make-up date with Eckerd, they hardly lost a point. With no one giving up more than two points in singles play, and the doubles team of Veronika Kovacikova and Andrea Arguello winning 8-0 in doubles, the Moccasins easily defeated the Tritons 9-0, improving their record to 11-0.
With 11 straight wins, Florida Southern (11-0, 2-0) has its longest winning streak since starting the 1986 season with 13 in a row. Eight of their 11 wins have come by shutout, and that's exactly the way they started Wednesday's match as Kovacikova and Arguello topped Manon Ironside and Stephanie Jenks by a score of 8-0. It was the sixth straight win for that tandem since being paired together in late February, and their third shutout victory at #2 doubles.
The other two doubles matches didn't come nearly as easily, but the Mocs still won both of them 8-4. That included the nationally rank team of Senka Softic and Agnese Rozite, who also improved to 11-0 as individuals. Arguello matched them at that mark with her own singles win.
Softic, Kovacikova, Rozite and Arguello all won their opening set by the identical score of 6-1, while Nora Baertschi and Amanda Carns opened with scores of 6-0. Baertschi completed the shutout in set number two, and Carns narrowly missed one herself with a 6-1 decision in her second set.
Softic ended up winning when her opponent, Emily Laing, retired after falling behind 3-0 in the second set, and Rozite closed out her match at #3 singles with a 6-0 win over Jenks. Kovacikova and Arguello helped finish the match by winning their respective second sets by the score of 6-1.
The road will get a little more difficult for Florida Southern this weekend as the Moccasins travel to south Florida for two more Sunshine State Conference matches against 2nd-ranked Lynn on Saturday and 5th-ranked Barry on Sunday. Both matches start at 10:00 a.m.
