LAKELAND â€" Considering how close Florida Southern and Northwood (MI) were in the national poll, it was no surprise that Saturday’s match between the two schools turned into a 5-hour barn-burner highlighted by four 3-set singles matches and two doubles matches decided by two games. The 25th-ranked Moccasins won four of the six and used those results to defeat the 26th-ranked Timberwolves, 6-3.
The Moccasins (4-6) were on the board first with an 8-3 win by senior Nathan Leavitt and junior Carl Lundberg at No. 2 doubles before the teams split the other two doubles points. Senior Vladimir Barabash and junior Charles Garneau put the Mocs ahead 2-1 with their 9-7 win at the No. 3 doubles slot.
Barabash then won the first singles match to finish, taking down Salikh Gilmutdinov in straight sets after moving up to the No. 3 position. The Timberwolves (5-3) would get a straight-set win of their own from 44th-ranked Jean Menard at No. 1, but the other four singles matches went the distance.
Lundberg and Leavitt secured the win for Florida Southern at No. 4 and No. 5 respectively, and all three sets in Leavitt’s match were decided by either 6-4 or 7-5 scores. Garneau also had to go three sets for his win at No. 6, which included a tie-breaker in the first one.
Florida Southern continues its home stand on Monday with a 5 p.m. match against #31 Washburn (KA).
