LAKELAND - The 29th-ranked Florida Southern Moccasins continued its season-long 11 match homestand here Wednesday afternoon by posting an impressive 8-1 win over 40th-ranked Bluefield State at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
The Moccasins, who are ranked 29th in the latest ITA Tennis National rankings, swept all six singles matches and won two of three matches in doubles to defeat the No. 1 ranked team in the Atlantic Region in the lastest ITA Tennis polls.
With the win, the Mocs run their win streak to two straight and improve to 5-5 on the season, while Bluefield State falls to 5-2.
In doubles action, the Mocs cruised to wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 spot as its No. 1 team of sophomore Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany) and Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) won 8-2 over BSC's No. 16th ranked No. 1 team of Jacob Carey and Poitr Kruk, while its No. 2 team of junior Nathan Leavitt (Bradenton, Fla.) and junior Vladimir Barabash (Puhovka, Ukraine) won by a score of 8-3. The Blues' only point of the match came at the No. 3 spot as it team of Niklas Sparr and Vlad Catlan took down the Mocs tandem of sophomore Carl Lundberg (Stocksund, Sweden) and junior Robbie Palmiotto (Boca Raton, Fla.).
Meanwhile in singles action, the Mocs won all six of the matche, including sealing the win with Leavitt's 6-3, 6-4 victory at the No. 3 spot over Catlan. One of the most competitive matches was at the No. 1 spot as 34th-ranked Lueber needed a tiebreaker in the first set to hang on to defeat Carey, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3).
The Mocs will return to action on Thursday, March 14 as they host 31st-ranked Midwestern State in a 3 p.m. dual match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
