NEW ORLEANS—Despite a solid start and a big win in doubles play, the No. 17 Southeastern men's tennis team was on the short side of a 4-2 non-conference contest to Xavier (La.).
The 14
th-ranked doubles pair of
Roy Stepanov and
Federico Barbon knocked off the No. 2 pair of Perez and Ramirez by the score of 6-1 to improve to 10-3 on the year and give the team their seventh-straight win.
Victor Olivera and
Diego Menendez clinched a 1-0 lead for the Fire going to singles play with a 6-4 win at Line 2.
Stepanov gave Perez, the top-ranked NAIA singles player all he could handle in their No. 1 Singles match by forcing a tiebreaker in the first and winning the second. Perez took the third 6-4 and won the match.
Olivera was responsible for the lone win in singles play by defeating No. 35 Ramirez 6-4, 6-2 at Line 2.
The Fire will close out the regular season on Saturday at SCAD-Savannah.
