LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened a stretch of playing six matches in seven days here Monday afternoon by suffering a 7-2 loss at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center to 25th-ranked Northwood (Mich.) University.
The 32nd-ranked Moccasins, who were playing its first match in eight days, picked up its two wins in singles as sophomore Laurent Mailloux (Montreal, Quebec) posted a win in a third-set tiebreaker at the No. 1 spot to earn his second consecutive win, while senior Charles Garneau (L'ancienne-Lorette, Quebec) picked up a straight sets win at the No. 5 spot.
With the setback, the Mocs fell to 2-6 overall on the season, while Northwood improved to 6-0.
Despite the loss, the Mocs made Northwood work for the victory as along with Mailloux's win in a third-set tiebreaker, two other singles matches went three sets and the Mocs took 10 games in the other two singles matches.
In addition to Mailloux, freshman Arthur Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla.) took Northwood's Austin Woody to a third set at the No. 3 spot as Woody won the first set, 6-2, before falling 6-1 in the second set. In the third set, Woody picked up a 7-5 victory.
The other singles match that went to a third set came at the No. 6 spot as freshman Brian Slivonik (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) fell to Northwood's Tanini Kader. Kader won the first set, 6-3, before losing the second set, 6-3 and then collecting a 6-2 win in the third set.
Meanwhile, in doubles, Northwood won all three matches that were decided by a mere seven points, including the No. 1 doubles matches going to a tiebreaker as Mailloux and sophomore Fabian Lundberg (Akersberga, Sweden) falling 9-8 (7-3) to Woody and Sebastian Equez.
Northwood won the No. 2 doubles match 8-6 and posted an 8-4 win at the No. 3 spot in the line-up.
The Mocs will continue its stretch of six matches in seven days on Wednesday, March 11 as they host Young Harris in a 3 p.m. non-conference match at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
