LAKELAND - Florida Southern completed a stretch of six matches in seven days here Saturday afternoon and dropping a hard-fought 5-4 decision to Wayne State (Mich.) in a non-conference match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
In Saturday's match, the Mocs dropped two three-set matches in singles and picked up a win in doubles at the No. 1 spot in the line-up and earned singles wins at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6, but it was the two 3-set victories by the Warriors that sealed their victory.
With the setback, the 32nd-ranked Moccasins fell to 3-10 on the season, while Wayne State imporved to 4-5 on the year.
In doubles on Saturday, the Mocs won their only point at the No. 1 spot as sophomore Laurent Mailloux (Montreal, Canada) and senior Charles Garneau (L'ancienne-Lorette, Quebec) partnered up to earn an 8-3 win at the No. 1 spot. WSU, though would take the doubles thanks to wins of 8-4 and 8-3 at No. 2.
The Mocs, though, would respond in singles as they picked up three singles win, but would fall short of the victory after WSU rallied to post two come-from-behind wins at both No. 3 and 4 singles.
In singles, Mailloux improved to 3-3 at the No. 1 spot in the line-up after earning a 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-1 win over WSU's Mohamed Fazyl Kechai.
At the No. 2 singles spot, freshman Arther Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla.) picked up a 6-4, 7-5 win over WSU's Trey Keating.
FSC's other win in Saturday's match came at the No. 6 spot as freshman Derek Bell (Creve Coeur, Mo.) defeated Luke Ruocco in a thrd-set tiebreaker as Bell lost the first set, 6-4, won the second set, 6-3 and posted an 11-9 win in the third set.
Florida Southern will take about about five days off from action before hosting Southeastern Oklahoma in a 2 p.m. match on Thursday, March 20 at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
