LAKELAND â€" Magda Riutort and Sabine Goge combined to give Florida Southern all three of its points Wednesday against Saint Leo before the 7th-ranked Lions won the final three singles matches to defeat the 20th-ranked Moccasins, 6-3.
Saint Leo (9-2, 4-1 Sunshine State Conference) scored the first point of the match with a win at number two doubles before Riutort (Petra, Spain) and Goge (Cesis, Latvia) teamed up for an 8-4 win over Maria Benkirane and Pauline Helgesson at number one. Shortly thereafter, the Lions regained the lead behind their number three doubles team.
A 6-3, 6-2 win by Goge (ranked #35 in Division II) at number two singles tied the team score at 2-2, and after the Lions re-gained the lead, Riutort again tied it for the Moccasins with a 3-set win over Coralie Pesenti at the top flight. Riutort (ranked #11) blanked Pesenti in the final two sets after dropping the first one, 6-2.
With the match tied 3-3, Saint Leo was able to pull away behind its number six and number five singles players, who each won in straight sets. Benkirane then out-lasted Joalis Dominguez (Vero Beach, FL) at number three, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 to give the Lions their final point.
Florida Southern, which has already played four top-20 teams from the SSC, will return to non-conference competition on Monday, March 11, when it hosts Wayne State (MI) at 3:00 p.m.
