LAKELAND - Florida Southern moved its record to .500 on the season here Wednesday afternoon as the 25th-ranked Moccasins posted an 8-1 victory over Bluefield State (W.Va.) in a non-conference match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
Wednesday's victory moved the Mocs record to 6-6 on the season and improved them to 4-3 on its current 10-match homestand. Bluefield State fell to 10-2 with the loss.
In Wednesday's match, the Mocs opened by taking two of the three doubles matches, but Bluefield State prevented a Moccasin sweep in doubles as their No. 2 team of Vishwesh Sinha and Aziz Yuldashev defeated FSC's No. 2 team of seniors Nathan Leavitt (Bradenton, Fla.) and Vladimir Barabash (Puhkova, Ukraine), 8-3. The Mocs won the other two doubles matches by identical 8-4 scores.
Meanwhile, in singles action, the Mocs picked up the victory by winning the first three singles matches, including junior Charles Garneau (L'ancienne-Lorette, Quebec) sealing the win with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Anthony Braem at the No. 5 spot. FSC also won at the No. 4 and No. 3 spots, before Garneau wrapped up the match at No. 5.
Two of the singles matches needed tiebreakers to decide the winner as junior Austin Comings (Heathrow, Fla.) improved to 2-1 on the season with his third-set tiebreaking win at the No. 6 spot over BSU's Conner Pickering. Comings won the first set, 6-3, before Pickering won the next set, 6-3, but Comings would prevail 10-6 in the tiebreaker.
Perhaps the match of the day came at the No. 1 spot as senior Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) went to a third set and then a tiebreaker in his match against 21st-ranked Jacob Carey. Paradis, who is now 6-6 on the season, opened by winning the first set, 6-3, but Carey rebounded to earn a 6-2 win in the second set. In the third set, Paradis would ultimately prevail 7-6 (9-7) in a tiebreaker.
The Mocs other singles wins came at No. 2 by junior Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany) and at No. 3 by junior Carl Lundberg (Stocksund, Sweden). Lueber won 6-1, 6-2 over Sinha and Lundberg defeated Yuldashev, 6-4, 6-1.
FSC will return to action on Friday, March 21 as they host Washburn (Kan.) in a 2 p.m. match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center. The match was originally scheduled for Monday, but was postponed and rescheduled due to inclement weather.
#25 Florida Southern 8, Bluefield State 1
03/19/14 at Lakeland, FL (Wynee Warden Tennis Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Benoit Paradis (FSCM) def. #21 Jacob Carey (BSU) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7) |
| 2. #49 Emanuel Lueber (FSCM) def. Vishwesh Sinha (BSU) 6-1, 6-2 |
| 3. Carl Lundberg (FSCM) def. #43 Aziz Yuldashev (BSU) 6-4, 6-1 |
| 4. Nathan Leavitt (FSCM) def. Vlad Catlan (BSU) 6-1, 6-0 |
| 5. Charles Garneau (FSCM) def. Anthony Braem (BSU) 6-3, 6-2 |
| 6. Austin Comings (FSCM) def. Connor Pickering (BSU) 6-1, 3-6, 10-6 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Benoit Paradis/Emanuel Lueber (FSCM) def. Jacob Carey/Piotr Kruk (BSU) 8-4 |
| 2. Vishwesh Sinha/Aziz Yuldashev (BSU) def. Nathan Leavitt/Vladimir Barabash (FSCM) 8-3 |
| 3. Carl Lundberg/Austin Comings (FSCM) def. Vlad Catlan/Connor Pickering (BSU) 8-4 |
| Match Notes |
| Bluefield State 10-2; Regional ranking #1 |
| Florida Southern 6-6; National ranking #25; Regional ranking #8 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,3,5,2,6,1) |
