LAKELAND - Florida Southern continued its four-match homestand here Friday afternoon by dropping a hard-fought 6-3 match to 37th-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center on the FSC campus.
With the setback, the 32nd-ranked Moccasins fell to 3-12 overall on the season, while PBA improved to 9-2 on the season.
In Friday's match, the Mocs opened by taking two of the three doubles matches as its No. 1 team of senior Charles Garneau (L'ancienne-Lorette, Quebec) and sophomore Laurent Mailloux (Montreal, Quebec) picked up an 8-2 win over PBA's tandem of Nicolas Uryson and Romain Nowaczyk and its No. 3 team of freshmen Arthur Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla.) and Derek Bell (Creve Coeur, Mo.) posted an 8-4 win over PBA's tandem of Asteway Adams and Nicholas Battisini.
The Sailfish, though, would prevent a Moccasin sweep in doubles, as its No. 2 team of Mark Heimberger and Matt Leeds defeated FSC's No. 2 team of freshmen Blaine Miller (Orlando, Fla.) and Brian Slivonik (Oyster Bay, N.Y) by a score of 8-3.
Meanwhile, in singles action on Friday, which featured three three-set matches, the Mocs were able to pick up their only win at the No. 5 spot in the line-up as Slivonik earned a 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Battisini.
The other two matches the Mocs had a chance to win came at the No. 3 and No. 4 singles spots as Garneau battled Heimberger into a third set and at the No. 4 spot as Miller battled Adams to a third set.
At the No. 3 spot, Garneau lost the first set 6-1 to Heimberger, before posting a 6-2 win in the second set. In the third and final set, Heimberger would prevail, 6-3.
Miller opened the first set at the No. 4 spot with a 6-0 loss to Adams, before rebounding to post a 6-2 win in the second set. Adams, though, would hang on in the third set and post a 6-4 victory.
Another competitive match was at the No. 1 spot in the line-up as Mailloux and Uryson went back-and-fourth for two sets as Uryson posted a 6-3, 6-4 win.
The Mocs will close out its four-match homestand on Saturday, March 21 at they host No. 3 ranked Barry in a 1 p.m. Sunshine State Conference match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
