LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened the home portion its spring schedule here Friday afternoon as the 17th-ranked Moccasins fell 5-4 in a hard-fought Sunshine State Conference battle to 13th-ranked Rollins at the Wynee Warden Tennis Complex.
With the loss, the Mocs fall to 1-1 on the young season and 0-1 in the SSC, while Rollins opens its spring campaign 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the league.
In Friday's match, the Mocs fell behind 2-1 after doubles as the 13th-ranked Tars took home wins at the No. 2 and 3 spot, but FSC's No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Magda Riutort (Petra, Spain) and junior Sabine Goge (Cesis, Latvia) prevented a Rollins sweep as they defeated Ashley and Lisa Loft, 8-1. Riutort and Goge are the No. 12th-ranked doubles team in Division II.
In singles action, the Mocs picked up wins at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4, but the Tars sealed the match by picking up wins at the No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 spots.
For the Mocs in singles action, Riutort, who is ranked 11th in Division II, needed third set tiebreaker to outlast Rollins' Elissa DeCampli as Riutort dropped the first set, 6-2, before winning the second set, 7-6 and then earning a 10-6 win in the tiebreaker. In addition to Riutort, Goge, who is ranked 35th in Division II, earned a straight set win (6-3, 6-0) over RC's Lisa Loft at the No. 2 spot and sophomore Christie Nunnemann (St. Simmons Island, Ga.) won in straight sets (7-6, 6-3) over RC's Carli Davis at the No. 4 spot.
The Mocs will remain at home as they host Saint Leo in another SSC match on Valentine's Day (Thursday, Feb. 14). The match is slated to begin at 3 p.m. at the Wynee Warden Complex.ÂÂ
