LAKELANDÂ - Florida Southern concluded its Sunshine State Conference schedule here Monday afternoon by posting an 8-1 victory over 44th-ranked Florida Tech at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
With the win, the 32nd-ranked Moccasins improved to 10-8 overall and 2-4 in the SSC, while Florida Tech fell to 6-9 overall and 1-3 in the SSC.
The Mocs opened Monday's match by picking up victories in all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead in the match. FSC picked up an 8-5 win at the No. 1 spot and an 8-2 win at the No. 2 spot. At the No. 3 spot, junior Carl Lundberg (Stocksund, Sweden) and junior Charles Garneau (L'ancienne-Lorette, Quebec) picked up a hard-fought 9-8 (10-3) win at the No. 3 spot over Tech's Daniel Armellino and Bruno Rodrigues.
Meanwhile, in singles action, the Mocs pushed its lead to 4-0 as senior Benoit Paradis (Quebec City, Quebec) picked up a 6-0, 6-1 win at the No. 2 spot and then the Mocs sealed the win with a straight set (6-0, 6-2) win at the No. 3 spot by senior Nathan Leavitt (Bradenton, Fla.) over Beau Fieldsend to give the Mocs a 5-0 lead in the match and clinch its second consecutive victory.
Leavitt won his third straight singles match and improved to 10-8 on the season, while Paradis improved 9-9 overall on the season.
With the match clinched, the Mocs would also pick up wins in singles at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6.
At the No. 4 spot, Lundberg defeated Armellino in a third-set tiebreaker (1-6, 6-1, 10-5), while senior Vladimir Barabash (Puhovka, Ukraine) won in a third-set tiebreaker at the No. 5 spot. Barabash won the first set, 6-2, before losing the second set 6-4 and then earning a 10-3 win in the third set tiebreaker.
The Mocs other win came at the No. 6 spot as Garneau defeated Jimmy Nguyen in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
Florida Tech's only win came at the No. 1 singles spot as Patrick Hernandez earned a hard-fought win in a third-set tiebreaker over junior Emanuel Lueber (Tiengen, Germany). Hernandez dropped the first set, 6-4, before earning a 6-2 win in the second set and posting a 10-8 win in the third-set tiebreaker.
The Mocs will conclude its 2014 spring regular season on Wednesday, April 9 as they host Embry-Riddle in a 3 p.m. non-conference match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
#32 Florida Southern 8, #44 Florida Tech 1
04/07/14 at Lakeland, FL (Wynee Warden Tennis Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Patrick Hernandez (FIT) def. Emanuel Lueber (FSCM) 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 |
| 2. Benoit Paradis (FSCM) def. Matic Leskovar (FIT) 6-0, 6-1 |
| 3. Nathan Leavitt (FSCM) def. Beau Fieldsend (FIT) 6-0, 6-2 |
| 4. Carl Lundberg (FSCM) def. Daniel Armellino (FIT) 1-6, 6-1, 10-5 |
| 5. Vladimir Barabash (FSCM) def. Wade Ball (FIT) 6-2, 4-6, 10-3 |
| 6. Charles Garneau (FSCM) def. Jimmy Nguyen (FIT) 6-3, 6-1 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Benoit Paradis/Emanuel Lueber (FSCM) def. #23 Patrick Hernandez/Wade Ball (FIT) 8-5 |
| 2. Vladimir Barabash/Nathan Leavitt (FSCM) def. Matic Leskovar/Beau Fieldsend (FIT) 8-2 |
| 3. Carl Lundberg/Charles Garneau (FSCM) def. Daniel Armellino/Bruno Rodrigues (FIT) 9-8 (10-3) |
| Match Notes |
| Florida Tech 6-9, 1-3 SSC; National ranking #44; Regional ranking #10 |
| Florida Southern 10-8, 2-4 SSC; National ranking #32; Regional ranking #8 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,3,6,4,5,1) |
