LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 4 Southeastern Men's Tennis continued its winning ways, taking down No. 23 SCAD Atlanta, 4-0, to advance to 7-2 and their sixth straight victory.
The first two flights of doubles split, SCAD Atlanta's Joewyn Pascua and Firas Ben Chouikha upset No. 13 Piero Fernandez and Javier Gallego on flight one, 6-4. Pedro De La Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez of Southeastern responded on flight two with a 6-4 victory over Nicolas Fertonani and Valentino Capararo to set up for a dramatic doubles finish.
It went the way of the Fire, despite the Bees holding a game advantage the majority of the match, Aristeidis Lafazanos and Gustavo Rubio struck when it mattered. The Fire duo ultimately prevailed, notching a late break, defeating Jakub Bojarski and Negele, 7-6 (7-5) behind two huge serves from Lafazanos, giving Southeastern the early 1-0 lead.
Up a point, the Fire went to work. The first blow in singles came from SEU's newly-ranked, No. 16 Gonzalo Fernandez on line four, who cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Fertonani. Doubles teammate De La Riva came close on his heels, commanding a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Negele on line three, pushing the Fire lead to 3-0.
No. 9 Gallego was sealed the deal on line two, fending off a feisty Pascua 6-3, 6-4 to extend the Fire's win streak and undefeated home season.
Three matches remained unfinished when play was halted. On line one, No. 12 Piero Fernandez held a strong position against Capararo up a set and two breaks, 6-4, 4-2. Lafazanos was also in control on line six after claiming the first set 6-4, and held a 2-0 second set lead, while freshman Nikolas Kumria trailed a set on line six 7-6 (8-6), 1-1.
Now 7-2 on the season, the Fire continue their homestand, welcoming NCAA DII Middle Georgia State to Lakeland tomorrow at 10 a.m.
