ALTAMONTE SPRINGS â€" Lynn’s two top-five doubles teams helped the Knights take control early, before wins at number five and number six singles ended the match, and sent the top seed in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament into the championship match with a 5-0 win over 4th-seeded Florida Southern.
Magdalena Ekert and Isabell Raich, ranked #5 in the country, came into Friday’s semifinal match with a 15-0 record at number two doubles and added to that total with an 8-0 win that got the Knights (22-1, ranked #3) started. After the Knights also won at number three doubles, the 4th-ranked team of Eleonora Iannozzi and Ioana Ivan improved their record to 16-1 by surviving a 9-7 battle with the nation’s 16th-ranked doubles team of Agnese Rozite and Sabine Goge. It was the fourth time this year Iannozzi and Ivan had pushed to a ninth point to decide a match, and their fourth such win under those circumstances.
In singles play, the Moccasins (16-5, ranked #11) got strong starts from Rozite and Veronika Kovacikova, who both dropped 6-4 opening sets to top-ten opponents and were just underway in the second set before the match ended. Lynn got the two points it needed from Jessica Yanoff at number five, and Andrea Berkova at number six to move into the SSC Championship Match for the 13th year in a row.
The Knights will meet 2nd-seeded Barry on Saturday at 9:00, the second year in a row and the eighth time since 2001 those schools have played each other for the SSC title. The Buccaneers advanced with a 5-0 win over 3rd-seeded Rollins.
Florida Southern will face Rollins in the 3rd-place match on Saturday at 11:00.
