LAKELAND â€" Facing the top-ranked and defending NAIA national champions, Embry-Riddle, #32 Florida Southern dropped a 6-3 decision in its final home match of the season, despite a pair of wins by Carl Lundberg.
The Moccasins (10-9) put all six of their seniors on the court in singles play for their final home match and nearly had a 3-0 lead before that. The doubles competition went back and forth in all three matches with the No. 2 position the first to finish. Embry-Riddle, who will become a member of the Sunshine State Conference next year, won that one 8-5 before the nation’s #1-ranked doubles team of Deni Zmak and Simon Felix edged Benoit Paradis and Emanuel Lueber, 8-6.
The Moccasins picked up their first point at No. 3 doubles where Charles Garneau and Carl Lundberg defeated Luke de Caires and Miguel Lopez Gomez 9-8 (7-4). Garneau and Lundberg were up 5-2 before the Eagle pair came back to force the tie-breaker, and they were knotted 4-4 there. A long rally gave the Mocs the sixth point and they put it away quickly on the seventh.
In singles, the Mocs got another win from Lundberg at No. 5, where the senior defeated de Caires 6-2, 6-1 to end his home career. However, the Eagles (15-3) picked up four other singles points before Lueber got the Mocs on the board at No. 2 with a 3-set win over Jaime Sanche-Canamar, who was ranked #24 nationally.
Florida Southern will next compete in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament, which begins on April 24 in Winter Park.
