Panthers Fall In Men’s Tennis To Florida Southern
By Space Coast Daily // April 3, 2013
FIT Faces Palm Beach Atlantic On Monday
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech dropped its third-straight men’s tennis match with a 6-3 loss to No. 29 Florida Southern, but junior Nicolas Clerc collected his 12th singles victory to extend his winning streak to 10 straight on Tuesday at the Moore Tennis Courts.
Florida Tech (10-9, 1-4 SSC) recorded its only doubles victory against Florida Southern (10-7, 2-4 SSC) in the top match. The nation’s No. 23 tandem, Clerc and freshman Patrick Hernandez, defeated the South Region’s No. 8 duo, Emanuel Lueber and Benoit Paradis, 9-7. Clerc and Hernandez, who also rank No. 7 in the South Region, are now 11-3 on the season.
Clerc extended his No. 1 singles streak to 10-straight wins after defeating Lueber in a three-set match. Clerc took the first set, 6-1, but Lueber fought back to win the second set by a score of 7-5. The Panthers’ top singles player pulled away in the third set with a 6-1 victory to take the match, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.
Senior Barry Dylewski also played to a three-set win at No. 5 singles. Dylewski took set one, 6-4, but then dropped the second set, 6-3, to Robbie Palmiotto. Dylewski was able to hold on in the third set to take the match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
“This was a very winnable match for us,” FIT head coach Bill Macom said. “We had opportunities to win the third doubles match. We also held leads in the third sets of both No. 3 and No. 4 singles, but we were not able to finish. This match showed that we are playing better, but we still need to do a better job with the mental side of our tennis in order to move to the next level and beat a team like this.”
Hernandez and sophomore Riley Lorenz both took their opponents to three sets. In No. 3 singles, Hernandez dropped the first set, 6-4, to Carl Lundberg, but came back with a 6-3 second-set victory. In the third set, Hernandez jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Lunberg rallied back by winning seven consecutive games to take the match, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
In No. 4 singles, Lorenz won the first set, 6-3, but lost the second set, 6-3, to Vladimir Barabash. Lorenz also held an early lead in the third set, but fell 7-5 to lose the match, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Florida Tech will step outside of conference play when it travels to Palm Beach Atlantic on Monday, April 8.
The Panthers and Sailfish will begin at 4 p.m. in West Palm Beach.
