LAKELAND â€" Taking an 8-6 win in the final doubles match, and a pair of 3-set victories in singles play, 9th-ranked Rollins was able to pull out a 7-2 win over #26 Florida Southern on Wednesday.
The 7-2 win by Rollins (2-2, 1-0 Sunshine State Conference) could have just as easily been a 5-4 win for Florida Southern. The Tars won the first doubles match to be completed, 8-5, and later got an 8-6 win from the nation’s 5th-ranked doubles team of Will Kwok and Jason Alabaster, who outlasted junior Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany) and senior Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, QB).
Alabaster, who is also ranked #34 in singles, then earned a 3-set win for the Tars over Paradis by coming back after dropping the first set. Malte Christesen, another nationally-ranked player for the Tars, also defeated Lueber in three sets.
Florida Southern (1-2, 1-2) got its two points from seniors Vladimir Barabash (Puhovka, Ukraine) and senior Nathan Leavitt (Bradenton, Fla.). A 6-4, 6-1 win by Barabash at #5 singles put the Moccasins on the board, but the Tars won at #6 and #4 to secure the match. That left the top three flights to finish, where Leavitt got his win at #2 over Robin Marchione, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0, before Christesen and Alabaster finished things for Rollins.
Florida Southern will play its next three matches on the road, going back-to-back-to-back against #4 Lynn (Feb. 27), #1 Barry (Feb. 28), and Palm Beach Atlantic (March 1). The match against Lynn begins at 6 p.m.
