LAKE NONA, Fla.- The RV Southeastern University men's tennis team bounced back in a powerful way after dropping their season opener to Florida National, defeating the Warner University Royals 6-1 in their 2020 Sun Conference opener at the UTSA National Campus.
The Fire battled their way to the doubles point to start things out with momentum.
Sophomore
Santiago Haas and freshman
Alec Lichter were the catalyst for SEU, earning a 6-2 win at the No. 3 line doubles.
After Southeastern dropped the top doubles' position, it came down to the second line. Veteran leadership came through for the Fire, as seniors
Thomas Ortega and
Felipe Barbosa scored a 6-2 victory to put SEU ahead of WU 1-0.
"I thought the energy was better today," shared SEU head coach
Drew Dickens. "Our doubles' play was much better than Friday and that momentum carried over for us into singles."
After a tight first set win 6-4, sophomore
Enrique Martinez dominated in the second set 6-0 to defeat his opponent 2-0 at the fourth spot. Lichter put the Fire ahead of the Royals 3-0 with a two-set victory (6-2, 6-2) at the No. 6 line.
Graduate transfer
Omar Fiorenzato clinched the match for Southeastern with a two-set win (6-1, 6-1) at the fifth position.
"After the Florida National match, we went back to practice and worked very hard," remarked Fiorenzato. "We were determined to win every ball and played very well as a unit."
As SEU and WU played out the remaining matches, Barbosa scored a victory at the third line, rallying to beat his adversary 7-5 in the second set after winning the first set 6-1.
Haas punctuated the Fire win with a two-set win (6-2, 6-4) at the No. 2 spot.
Southeastern looks to earn another positive Sun Conference result with a match versus St. Thomas this Saturday at the Beerman Family Tennis Complex in Lakeland. Match time is set for 12:00 p.m.
