SAINT LEO - Florida Southern closed out its 2012-13 season here Monday by falling 5-3 in a hard-fought match to No. 2 seeded and seventh-ranked Saint Leo in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament at the SLU Tennis Center.
With the setback, the 26th-ranked and seventh-seeded Moccasins finish the season with a 16-8 overall record, including ending the season winning 14 of its last 17 matches. SLU, who advances to Tuesday's regional final match against either No. 3 seed West Florida or No. 6 seed Valdosta State, moves to 18-5 on the season.
Monday's match marked the return of sophomore Magda Riutort (Petra, Spain), who sat out the final two matches of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament to an lower leg injury. The 10-day layoff between matches for the First-Team All-SSC honoree allowed her to heal up for NCAA Regionals.
In Monday's match, the Mocs, who were making its 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, jumped in front 1-0 prior to the beginning of the match as junior Laura Wichmann (Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany) won at the No. 6 singles spot by default as the Lions No. 6 player was sent to the hospital due to an allegeric reaction prior to the beginning of the match.
Trailing 1-0 in the match, the host team took a 2-1 lead in the overall match by posting wins at the No. 2 and 3 doubles spots. At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Olivia Spagnuolo (Andover, Mass.) and her sister, junior Victoria Spagnuolo (Andover, Mass.) fell 8-2 to SLU's Emily Singleton and Laura Kemkes, while the Mocs No. 3 team of Wichmann and junior Joalis Dominguez (Vero Beach, Fla.) lost 8-4 to SLU's Phoebe Di Leo and Andriana Daszkiewicz.
Leading 2-1, the Lions posted an 8-2 win at the No. 1 doubles spot to take a 3-1 lead in the match. At the No. 1 spot, the Mocs 12th-ranked team of junior Sabine Goge (Cesis, Latvia) and Riutort fell 8-2 to SLU's top team of Maria Benkirane and Pauline Helgesson.
The loss was just the fifth of the season in doubles for Riutort and Goge as the First-Team All-SSC selections in doubles entered the NCAA Tournament with a 19-4 record, including a 17-3 mark at the No. 1 spot.ÂÂ
Meanwhile in singles action, the Mocs posted wins at the No. 2 spot by Goge and the No. 5 spot Olivia Spagnuolo, while SLU won at the No. 4 spot to take a 4-3 lead in the match.
Monday's match came down to the No. 1 singles match-up by 18th-ranked Riutort and SLU's Helgesson. Helgesson took command of the first set as she won 6-4, but Riutort, who was battling leg cramps, gutted it out in the second set as she staved off four match points trailing 5-3 in the match to force a second-set tiebreaker after winning three of the next four points to even the match at 6-all. In the tiebreaker, Helgesson led 4-2, before Riutort scored two straight point to tie it at 4, before Helgesson held on for a 7-5 win to take the second set, 7-6 (7-5).
The No. 3 singles match between Dominguez and Benikrane was left unfinished when Helgesson sealed the Lions win. Dominguez won the first set, 7-5, but lost the second set, 6-2 and it all even at 2 in the third set when SLU won the match.
With the loss at the No. 1 spot, Riutort finished the season with a 20-5 record in singles, while Goge finished with a 19-5 mark in singles. Both Riutort and Goge were ranked nationally in singles as Riutort is 18th and Goge is 30th.
Mocs head coach Trish Riddell is expected to return her entire lineup from Monday's match against Saint Leo next season as FSC only had one senior, Charlotte Brereton (Chesire, England) on the roster and played three sophomores and four juniors against SLU. ÂÂ
