LAKELAND â€" Playing in the final home match of his career, and the men’s tennis team’s final match at the Beerman Tennis Courts, senior Ivan Marevic secured a win for Florida Southern with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at number three singles, while four of his teammates also won in straight sets as the 23rd-ranked Moccasins defeated #42 Florida Tech, 7-2.
The Moccasins (12-10, 2-4) wrapped up the regular season with the win, and secured the #5 seed in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament that begins on April 19. It earned them a date with Saint Leo in the first round, the only team to beat the Mocs in their last six matches.
Florida Southern charged from the gates Monday with an 8-1 win by Nathan Leavitt and Vladimir Barabash at number three doubles, their fourth win in five tries since being paired together late in the season. Benoit Paradis and Emanuel Lueber than rallied from a 5-2 deficit at number two doubles to post a 9-8 (7-5) win before Florida Tech (11-9, 1-5) also won a doubles tie-breaker at the top flight. That 9-8 (7-3) win by the region’s #7-ranked doubles team of Nicolas Clerc and Jorge Abarca Montero, got the Panthers within 2-1 in the team score, but they got no closer.
Leavitt and Carl Lundberg both won their singles matches in straight sets, as each player dropped only two games, and Marevic followed with his win to clinch the match. Marevic’s doubles partner, Jorge Gutierrez, also won around the same time, taking a 6-2, 6-4 decision that represented his ninth straight victory.
Lueber provided Florida Southern with its final point before Clerq won again for Florida Tech at the top singles flight.
The Moccasins will be off until their first match in the conference tournament on April 19.
