LAKELAND - Florida Southern continued its season long eight-match homestand here Saturday by returning to Sunshine State Conference play and falling 9-0 to No. 2 ranked Barry at the Wynne Warden Tennis Center.
Saturday's match was the 45th-ranked Moccasins' third SSC match of the season and the first since posting an 8-1 win at Eckerd on Feb. 24. With the setback, the Mocs fell to 2-9 overall and 1-2 in the SSC, while Barry improved to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the SSC.
Barry flexed its muscles early on in the match as they won all three doubles matches by scores of 8-1, 8-1, and 8-0 respectively to take a 3-0 lead in the match.
The Buccaneers would then clinch the victory with a win by default at the No. 6 singles and a 6-0, 6-0 win by Kimmy Tweiker at the No. 4 singles spot over FSC freshman Katie Stanford (Lake Worth, Fla.).
FSC's best performances of the day in singles came from its No. 1 and No. 2 players - senior Olivia Spagnuolo (Andover, Mass.) and freshman Katie Taylor-Doran (Brisbane, Australia).
Spagnuolo, who played the No. 1 spot in singles for the first time this season, fell to seventh-ranked Sonja Larsen, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) and Doran took three games off of Elisabeth Abanda at the No. 2 singles spot as Abanda won the match, 6-1, 6-2.
Florida Southern will conclude its eight-match homestand this coming Tuesday, March 24 as they host ninth-ranked Rollins in a 3 p.m. SSC match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
