ORLANDO - Florida Southern returned to the court here Sunday afternoon and dropped a hard-fought 6-3 match to 39th-ranked Grand Valley State at the Lake Cane Tennis Center.
The 45th-ranked Moccasins fell to 1-3 overall on the season with the setback, while GVSU improved to 14-3 on the season.
In Sunday's match, the Mocs opened by winning one of the three doubles matches as seniors Magda Riutort (Petra, Spain) and Olivia Spagnuolo (Andover, Mass.) teamed up to post an 8-4 win at the No. 1 spot over GVSU's tandem of Leah Dancz and Kali Phillips. With the win, Riutort and Spagnuolo improved to 3-1 on the season in doubles.
The Lakers won the other doubles matches by scores of 9-8 and 8-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Meanwhile, in singles action, the Mocs picked up two wins as Riutort earned a 6-3, 6-2 win at the No. 1 spot over Dancz, while Spagnuolo earned a 7-5, 7-6 win at the No. 2 spot over Phillips. With her win, Riutort improved 3-2 in singles on the season, including being 3-1 at the No. 1 spot and Spagnuolo improved to 4-2 in singles, including a 3-1 mark at the No. 2 spot.
GVSU, though, would seal the victory by winning at the other four singles spots, but three of those four matches were competitive affairs as the Mocs won a total of 15 games in those four matches.
FSC will now take eight days off before returning to action on Monday, March 9 as they face Seton Hill in a 3 p.m. match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
