Men's Tennis Defeats Lynn for First Time Since 2007

LAKELAND, Fla. - Florida Southern College men's tennis defeated Lynn Univerisity for the first time in 17 matches on Saturday morning, as the Moccasins rolled to a 5-2 victory at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center. The No. 18 Moccasins (3-1, 1-0 SSC) earned their second upset over a top-10 team by defeating the No. 10 Fighting Knights (3-1, 1-1 SSC), and in doing so gave LU its first loss of 2020.

"Our conference is incredibly tough and deep," head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. "We battled hard today. I'm proud that the guys beat another top-10 team."

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Valentin Hertweck and Pablo Salamanca gave the Mocs a strong start with a 6-1 win in the No. 3 flight. Lucca Baptista and Robin Calais won 6-2 over the Pham brothers in flight two, but the Mocs locked up the doubles point in the No. 1 flight as Andres Cabezas and Erik Nordblom cruised to a 6-1 victory.
• No. 15 Baptista won the No. 1 flight by retirement but from there the Mocs dominated, winning four of the remaining flights. Nordblom took two 6-1 sets over Calais in the No. 2 flight and Cabezas earned a 6-4, 6-3 result in the No. 4 flight.
• Lucas Flotta defeated Oscar Sohl in two 6-4 sets in the No. 5 flight but the Mocs would clinch soon after as Hertweck won 6-3, 7-6 with a 7-5 tiebreaker in the No. 3 flight for a dramatic winner.
• Chase Martin continued his winning ways with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the No. 6 flight.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• The win is the first for the Mocs over the Fighting Knights since Feb. 24, 2007, when FSC won 5-4 in Lakeland. Southern is now 6-8 all-time against LU at home.
• Martin has started the season hot, with the freshman holding a 4-0 record in his collegiate season debut.
• Southern has now defeated two top-10 teams this season.

UP NEXT:

The Moccasins will play Davenport at the USTA National Training Center in Orlando on Tuesday and will have a week off before a string of 11 home matches in the first two weeks of March.