WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – After a historic run in the Sunshine State Conference tournament, the No. 15 Florida Southern College men's tennis team finished in second place after a 4-1 loss to No. 3 Barry University on Sunday morning's SSC Championship Final at the Mitch Gornto Tennis Center.
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"Obviously, we are disappointed in the outcome, but looking back on the last three days, this has been a very special few days," said head coach
Rhett Rollyson. "We tip our cap to Barry; they are at the level we want to be at and we are closing the gap. I am proud of this team and excited for the remainder of the season."
The Moccasins (17-8, 4-3 SSC) had a court win by
Mario Garoz but were unable to stop the Buccaneers (18-3, 7-0 SSC) en route to Barry's eight-straight SSC tournament title. The Moccasins captured their 28
th SSC tournament appearance as the three-seed, the highest seeding in the conference postseason in recent history. FSC made the title game after a 4-2 quarterfinal win against No. 48 Lynn University, and a 4-3 upset of No. 10 Saint Leo in the semifinal.
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In doubles, the No. 41 pairing of
Chris Fok Kow and Garoz had another big win, beating No. 39 pairing of Caill/Lynch 6-2. That was the only court win for FSC in doubles, with
Bosko Boskovic and
George Russell losing 6-4 to No. 40 Felline/Riedel, and a 6-4 loss by
Sam Frizelle and
Matthew Hewitt to Kodjoed/Trione.
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Barry started singles with a win at the #6 court over Boskovic 6-2, 6-2, but the Mocs had a big 6-1, 6-4 win by No. 53 Garoz over No. 31 Kodjoed, the third nationally ranked win for Garoz this season. The win also extended Garoz's singles record to 22-2, already setting the program record of singles wins in yesterday's match. The Buccaneers secured the match, winning the next two courts, Lynch over Russell 6-4, 6-0, and Riedel over Hewitt 6-1, 6-2. Courts 1 and 2 went unfinished due to the 4-1 clinch by Barry.
"It is very cool to be a part of many first by the team," continued Rollyson. "This was the first championship game in 23 years, the first 17+ win season since 2008, and the first tournament win since 2013. This is new ground for this team and this should be the expectation year in and year out. Hopefully, we have created a standard to become the norm. This year got us that much closer to where we want to be. A special thank you to the assistant coaches for helping us get there. We look forward to the NCAA selections next week and hope to continue the season in May."
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Despite the loss, Florida Southern had a big run in this year's tournament. FSC captured its first tournament win since 2013, its first win over SLU in 20 matches, and won its 17
th match of the season, the best record since 2008. This was the first appearance for the Mocs in the SSC final match since the 2002 season when FSC won its second tournament championship. Overall, the Mocs finished 4-3 in the conference during the regular season, the first winning conference record since 2010.
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The Mocs will turn their attention to the NCAA postseason selections on Monday, May 5 on NCAA.com. The Mocs entered the SSC tournament seventh in the South Region, with eight teams earning a spot in the toughest region of the country. Regional rounds for the NCAA Championships will occur May 9 and 10 at host sites, followed by the finals May 20-24 at the Sanlando Park in Altamont Springs, Fla.
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