PENSACOLA - Florida Southern opened up its slate of matches this weekend against Gulf South Conference foes by posting a hard-fought 8-1 win here Friday afternoon over Alabama-Huntsville at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex on the University of West Florida campus.
With the Friday's win, the 29th-ranked Moccasins improved to 11-7 overall on the season and won its second straight match, while UAH, who is ranked 11th in the initial NCAA Division II South Regional poll, fell to 11-9. The Mocs are ranked seventh in that same South Regional poll.
Despite the 8-1 win, the Chargers made the Mocs work for their victory, especially in doubles as all three matches were very tight. In singles play, UAH forced a third set at the No. 3 spot and took 30 points off the Mocs at the other five spots.
The Mocs opened Friday's match by winning two of three in doubles action as No. 1 team of sophomore Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany) and junior Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) posted an 8-5 win at the No. 1 spot, while junior Nathan Leavitt (Bradenton, Fla.) and junior Vladimir Barabash (Puhovka, Ukraine) won 9-8 (7-2) at the No. 2 spot.
UAH's lone win of the match came at the No. 3 doubles spot as Christopher Kano and Raphael Oliveria picked up a 9-7 victory over sophomore Carl Lundberg (Stocksund, Sweden) and junior Jorge Gutierrez (Madrid, Spain).
Meanwhile, in singles action, the Mocs clinched the victory with Gutierrez's straight set (6-4, 6-3) win at the No. 5 spot over Oliveria. The Mocs won four of the other singles matches in straight sets, while Lundberg needed a third set to earn a win at the No. 3 spot. In No. 3 singles, Lundberg opened with a 6-2 win in the first set, but UAH's Nestor Perez won the second set 6-4, while Lundberg posted a 10-8 win in the third set to earn the victory.
The Mocs top two singles teams of Lueber and Paradis each won their matches as Lueber defeated Jose Soto (6-2, 6-1) at the No. 1 spot and Paradis dispatched Fredrik Graaner at the No. 2 spot (6-1, 6-2).
FSC will continue its slate of matches in Pensacola on Saturday, April 6 as they face Delta State in a 2:30 p.m. EST match at UWF.
