LAKELAND â€" Jean Menard dropped the first set in singles play, but came back to win anyway, then helped the Timberwolves win the match with a decisive 8-4 victory at #3 doubles that lifted #22 Northwood (MI) over #7 Florida Southern, 5-4.
With rain a factor on Sunday, the teams elected to play the singles matches first, rather than the usual doubles, and the Timberwolves (3-0) were able to take a 4-2 lead. All but one of those matches went three sets, with the only exception at the #6 position where Nathan Leavitt put the Mocs on top early with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Florian Boggia.
The Moccasins (4-2) also got first-set wins from Ivan Marevic and Benoit Paradis, but in each case, the Northwood players came back to win set number two. However, the Mocs did the same in the other three singles matches after dropping the first set, forcing five of them to go the distance. The last time the Mocs even had even four singles matches go that far, was in a 5-4 win over Rollins in 2009.
Menard ended up winning his match at #3 over Paradis, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, getting Northwood on the board, and off-setting a win by Marevic for Florida Southern at the top flight. The Timberwolves then surged ahead for the lead, putting them in position to win by taking just one of the three doubles matches.
They ended up getting it, but only after Florida Southern won the first two, including an 8-1 win by Marevic and Brian deMontfort at #1. Paradis and C.J. Johnson then tied the score at four apiece, but Menard and Boggia were able to hold off Leavitt and Jorge Gutierrez at #3 for the clinching point.
The win came in the first of Northwood’s five matches on a five-match trip to Florida over spring break. The Timberwolves have advanced to the NCAA National Tournament 16 years in a row, and have won the last 15 titles in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. They’ll take on Saint Leo Monday afternoon as part of their current road trip.
The Moccasins will also be right back on the court Monday, hosting 5th-ranked Lynn University at 1:00.
