LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 4 Southeastern Men's Tennis struck in singles, overcoming a lost doubles point to down NCAA Division II Middle Georgia State, 5-2.
Middle Georgia State controlled the momentum early as Nick Dufner and Vicente Faria sat down SEU's Aristeidis Lafazanos and Gustavo Rubio on flight three, winning 6-4. The Fire didn't stray away as No. 13 Piero Fernandez and Javier Gallego eked out a win on flight one Alexandr Achour and Daniel Garcia Suarez 7-6 (7-5). However, Middle Georgia State responded by taking the clincher. On flight two, Alejandro Vizoso and Duarte Mestre defeated Southeastern's Pedro De La Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez, 7-6 (7-4), after trailing 4-1.
Trailing 1-0, the Fire went to work. Lafazanos got Southeastern on the board first, securing 12 straight sets after giving up the first three, earning a 6-3, 6-0 win over Michael Glocman on line five. Freshman Nikolas Kumria followed with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Dufner on line six, giving the Fire a 2-1 lead.
De La Riva commanded line three, cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Achour to extend SEU's advantage to 3-1.
Middle Georgia State answered at the top spot, where Alejandro Vizoso defeated No. 12 Piero Fernandez, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
No. 16 Gonzalo Fernandez didn't take kindly to dropping the opening set to MGA's Duarte Mestre, dominating sets two and three en route to a , 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory, clinching the match for SEU.
The final point came on line two, where the Fire's No. 9 Javier Gallego ousted Daniel Garcia Suarez in a three-set battle, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 10-5.
Now 8-2 on the season, and riding a seven match win streak, the Fire turn their attention to a hugely important road to trip to southern Florida. Battling No. 21 St. Thomas on the 20th at 11 a.m., and No. 3 Keiser in a rematch the day after at 1 p.m.
