Boca Raton, Fla.- Lynn University's men's tennis team fell, 7-2, to No. 2 Barry on Saturday afternoon, for its first Sunshine State Conference loss of the season. The fourth ranked Knights move to 15-4 overall and 5-1 in the conference with the loss. Barry remains unbeaten on the season at a perfect 17-0 and clinches the top seed for the SSC tournament with the victory.
Alessio Iannozzi and Max Kouyate gave LU its first point with a 8-2 win in doubles over Max Wimmer and Ollie Lemaitre. A loss in the number one doubles spot for Pavel Mojha and Simon Gloeckner evened the score at 1-all. Mojha and Gloeckner were defeated 8-6 by Marco Mokrzycki and Fabian Groetsch, who form the second best doubles team in the nation for the Bucs.
After leading 7-5 in the third doubles spot, Vlad Cirla and Giulio Gomba faced pressure from Barry's Leo Vivas and Romain Costamagna. With the score evened at 8-all the two faced off in a tie-breaker where Cirla and Gomba came out on top 7-5, for the 9-8 win.
Leading 2-1 after doubles, Barry came back with four unanswered singles wins to clinch the victory and top seed in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. No. 27 Kouyate was the first to falter to No. 4 Mokrzycki in sets of 6-3 and 6-2, which evened the score at 2-all. Mojha dropped in two sets of 6-2 to No. 22 Wimmer that put Barry ahead for the first time all match.
A 6-2, 6-3 loss in the number six spot for Gomba to Ollie Lemaitre put the Buccaneers one point away from clinching the victory. No. 23 Cirla dropped the first set to No. 19 Groetsch 6-2, before coming back in the second to force a tie-breaker. Cirla dropped the tie-breaker 7-3, giving Barry its fifth point.
Gloeckner lost 7-5, 6-2 in the numbe r four singles spot before No. 47 Iannozzi fell 6-7, 6-7, then dropping the tie-breaker 5-10 en route to the 7-2 final.
The Blue and White will face off against NAIA Embry Riddle on April 7, first serve is set for 11 am. Fans can follow all the action live atwww.LynnFightingKnights.com. Don't forget to 'Like' us on Facebook and follow @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram for in-match updates.
