LAKELAND - Leading 4-1 in the match after a straight win in singles by junior Carl Lundberg (Stocksund, Sweden), 32nd-ranked Florida Southern appeared headed towards its sixth consecutive win, but 25th-ranked West Alabama rallied to win the final four singles matches to claim a 5-4 come-from-behind victory at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
With the loss, the Moccasins snap its five match win streak and fall to 8-7 on the season, while UWA improves to 19-1 on the season.
FSC opened Thursday's match, which was originally scheduled to be held in Orlando, but was moved to Lakeland due to a lack of court to play at, by sweeping all three doubles matches, including its No. 1 team of senior Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) and junior Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany) collecting an 8-6 win over UWA's No. 24 ranked team of Adam Drysdale and Anton Ivanov. It was the win this season for Paradis and Lueber in doubles against a nationally-ranked tandem.
The Mocs won the other doubles matches, 8-5 at the No. 2 spot and 8-6 at the No. 3 spot.
UWA, who was trailing 3-0 after losing all doubles matches, picked its first win in match at No. 2 singles as Ivanov picked up a 6-1, 6-2 over Paradis, before the Mocs took a 4-1 lead following Lundberg's straight set win at the No. 4 spot over UWA's Caspar Schuetze. Lundberg, who improved to 9-6 in singles following Thursday's win, earned a 6-0, 6-1 win over Schuetze.
Leading 4-1, the Mocs only needed to pick up one more in the final four singles matches, but the Tigers, who have won 15 straight matches, would rally by winning the final four matches, including picking up a hard-fought straight set win at the No. 1 singles spot to secure the victory.
At the No. 1 spot, 18th-ranked Nestor Vargas and Lueber battled back-and-forth as Vargas won the first set, 6-4 and then after another back-and-forth in the second set, Vargas would ultimately prevail 7-5 to seal the Tigers win.
UWA also earned singles wins at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6. At the No. 3 spot, Drysdale needed three sets to defeat senior Vladimir Barabash (Puhovka, Ukraine), 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. The loss snapped a four-match win streak for Barabash.ÂÂ
The Mocs will return to action tomorrow evening as they travel to Boca Raton for a 6 p.m. Sunshine State Conference match against eighth-ranked Lynn. The two teams match earlier this season was postponed due to inclement weather after the two teams had completed all the doubles matches and were nearing the completion of the first set in singles. Friday's match, though, will start over from the beginning.
#25 West Alabama 5, #32 Florida Southern 4
03/27/14 at Lakeland, FL (Wynee Warden Tennis Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. #18 Nestor Vargas (UWAMTN) def. Emanuel Lueber (FSCM) 6-4, 7-5 |
| 2. Anton Ivanov (UWAMTN) def. Benoit Paradis (FSCM) 6-1, 6-2 |
| 3. Adam Drysdale (UWAMTN) def. Vladimir Barabash (FSCM) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 |
| 4. Carl Lundberg (FSCM) def. Caspar Schuetze (UWAMTN) 6-0, 6-1 |
| 5. Kike Ruiz (UWAMTN) def. Nathan Leavitt (FSCM) 6-3, 7-5 |
| 6. Manuel Grossmann (UWAMTN) def. Charles Garneau (FSCM) 6-4, 6-2 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Emanuel Lueber/Benoit Paradis (FSCM) def. #24 Adam Drysdale/Anton Ivanov (UWAMTN) 8-6 |
| 2. Vladimir Barabash/Nathan Leavitt (FSCM) def. Nestor Vargas/Kike Ruiz (UWAMTN) 8-5 |
| 3. Carl Lundberg/Charles Garneau (FSCM) def. Manuel Grossmann/Simon Bardell (UWAMTN) 8-6 |
| Match Notes |
| West Alabama 19-1; National ranking #25; Regional ranking #7 |
| Florida Southern 8-7; National ranking #32; Regional ranking #8 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,4,6,3,5,1) |
