LAKELAND, Fla.—Despite a slow start which led to being swept in the doubles matches, the Southeastern University men's tennis team battled back to come away with a 4-3 win over the 19
th-ranked Mariners of Coastal Georgia.
The Fire lost 6-4 at No. 1 and No. 2 Doubles and lost 6-0 at No. 3 Doubles to trail 1-0 heading to singles play.
"Coastal has a great team and every time we play them it comes down to one point," said coach
Drew Dickens. "Lots of ebbs and flows, we lost the doubles point easily so there was some concern that that could be the point that hurts us, but the guys fought and played amazing in singles, and the desire to win was there."
Tyler Glowaki tied the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6 Singles and
Felipe Barbosa gave the Fire the lead with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 5.
The match was tied again when the Mariners won at No. 1, leaving Lines 2, 3, and 4 still on the courts to decide the match with all three going to a third set.
Enrique Martinez found another gear, sweeping the third set to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 and bring the Fire within a point of clinching.
At Line 3,
Theodor Preiswerk won the first set 6-0 and led 3-0 in the second before dropping the set 6-5. During the third, Preiswerk won the set 6-3, getting a break for match point.
"Those are a couple of upperclassmen and have been in those positions before," said Dickens of Martinez and Preiswerk. "The reality is we need to stay present in those third sets, we need to go for our shots, and have the confidence that we can pull it out. They were able to do that today and got us the win."
At 19
th, Coastal Georgia is the highest ranked team the Fire have beaten in program history.
Southeastern returns to action next Saturday against Florida National.
