WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – No. 4 Fire Men's Tennis met a bitted end in the finale of the road trip south, unable to overcome early damage, dropping a 4-1 decision to No. 3 Keiser.
Doubles was challenging for a brief period, but it was the Seahawks who advanced victorious. On flight one, Didrik Liljekvist and Matthew Dubas defeated SEU's No. 13 duo of Javier Gallego and Piero Fernandez, 6-3. Notching the doubles point on the bottom flight, where the No. 2-ranked pair of Shaheed Alam and Heber Santos earned a 6-3 win over Aristeidis Lafazanos and Gustavo Rubio.
Flight two was knotted at 4-4 when Keiser took the 1-0 edge.
In singles play, Keiser quickly extended their lead. Dubas made it 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Lafazanos on line five. No. 3 Shaheed Alam set the Fire on the brink, avenging an early season loss to No. 9 Javier Gallego, 6-2, 6-2, on line two,
Southeastern claimed their lone point, as Pedro De La Riva commanded a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Oliver King to cut the deficit to 3-1.
No. 11 Didrik Liljekvist from Keiser sealed the deal on line one, overcoming a 3-0 second set deficit to notch a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 12 Piero Fernandez to clinch the match.
Two matches remained unfinished when play ceased. No. 16 Gonzalo Fernandez had split sets on line four and was locked in a tight third with Felipe Rivadeneira 6-4, 0-6, 2-2. And Nikolas Kumria held the early edge on line six after taking the opening set, leading Heber Santos, 7-5, 0-3.
With the loss, the Fire fall to 9-3, 2-1 SUN and return home on March 27 to battle Ave Maria at 1 p.m. in Lakeland.
