DAYTONA BEACH - Florida Southern opened its spring men's tennis season here Friday with a 4-3 victory over NCAA Division I foe Bethune-Cookman University at City Island Park.
The Moccasins, who were playing their first dual meet of the spring season, opened the match by dropping two of the three doubles matches to help give BCU (0-3 on the season) the doubles point. Friday's match was played by Division I rules as the three doubles matches count as one and a team must win 2-of-3 matches to earn the point.
In doubles play, FSC's only win came at the No. 1 spot as junior Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) and sophomore Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany) picked up an 8-4 victory over BCU's No. 1 team of Kip Jackson and Gilbert Rotich. The Wildcats, though, would post wins of 8-3 and 8-6 at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots respectively to earn the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Meanwhile, in singles action, Lueber, Paradis and junior Nathan Leavitt (Bradenton, Fla.) each picked up straight set wins at the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots, while BCU earned wins at the No. 5 and 6 spot.
Those matches set the stage for the No. 4 singles battle between Moccasin junior Vladimir Barabash (Puhovka, Ukraine) and BCU's Jackson. The winner of the No. 4 spot would help seal the match for their team. Barabash would ultimately prevail in three sets to seal the match win for the Mocs (1-0 on the season).
At the No. 4 spot, Jackson won the first set, 6-4, but Barabash posted a 6-2 win in the second set to force a third and deciding set, which Barabash won 6-0 to collect the victory.
The Mocs will remain in Daytona Beach as they face Palm Beach Atlantic in a 9 a.m. non-conference match on Saturday, Feb. 2. FSC will play its first home match of the spring season on Feb. 14 as they host Saint Leo in a 3 p.m. match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Complex on the FSC campus.
