WEST PALM BEACH - In a battle between two Top 30 nationally-ranked teams here Friday, the 17th-ranked Florida Southern Moccasins dropped a hard-fought 5-4 non-conference loss to the 27th-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish at Gaines Park.
Friday's match was its second of three consecutive road matches as the Moccasins, who are ranked ninth in the latest ITA South Region rankings, as FSC will play a Sunshine State Conference match on Sunday, Feb. 24 at No. 4 ranked Lynn and began the road swing with a 9-0 win on Wednesday at Eckerd.
With the setback, the Mocs fall to 2-3 on the season, while PBA improves to 5-2 on the season.
In Friday's match, the Sailfish took two of the three doubles matches as they picked up close wins at both the No. 2 (9-7) and No. 3 spot (8-6), but the Mocs prevented a PBA sweep in doubles as its nationally 12th-ranked No. 1 team of sophomore Magda Riutort (Petra, Spain) and junior Sabine Goge (Cesis, Latvia) picked up an 8-6 victory over PBA's No. 1 team of Veena Vasquez and Victoria Baca. The win was the pair's sixth of the season and second straight.
Meanwhile, in singles action, PBA's Vasquez upset 11th-ranked Riutort at the No. 1 spot in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, but the Mocs would put pressure on the Sailfish as they earned victories at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 spots. At the No. 2 spot, Goge, who is ranked 35th in Division II, picked up a solid 6-1, 6-1 win over PBA's Baca, while junior Joalis Dominguez (Vero Beach, Fla.) picked up another solid win at the No. 3 spot over PBA's Natalia Trotter by identical 6-2, 6-2 scores and sophomore Christie Nunnemann (St. Simmons Island, Ga.) earned a three-set win over PBA's Vilja Vahatalo as Nunnemann won the first set 6-2, before losing the second set 6-3 and then coming back to win the third set, 6-3.
The Sailfish, though, would seal its victory by winning both the singles matches at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots. At the No. 5 spot, Moccasin junior Victoria Spagnuolo (Andover, Mass.) fell to PBA's Jessica Wharton, 6-5, 6-2 and at the No. 6 spot, sophomore Pamela Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) lost in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) to PBA's Leyla Taracena.
FSC will return to the tennis courts on Sunday, Feb. 24 as they travel to Boca Raton to face Lynn in a 10 a.m. SSC match-up.
