Winter Park, Fla. – Lynn University's eighth-ranked men's tennis team advanced to the Sunshine State Conference Finals after a 5-1 victory over 20th-ranked Rollins on Friday afternoon. Lynn's record improves to 15-5 on the season as the team gets one step closes to their fifth conference crown.
There Fighting Knights were able to take a 2-1 lead over Rollins (11-10) in doubles play. Vlad Cirla and Pavel Mojha started things off when they defeated Keegan Burger and Jacobo Herrero, 8-2, in the second slot. Tomas Porkop and Alessio Iannozzi continued their undefeated streak when paired together with an 8-4 win over Robin Marchione and Adrian Di Felice at No. 3 doubles. In the top spot Lynn's duo of Daniel Riggs and Paolo Volpicelli fought back, but fell 9-7 to Rollin's top pair, Jason Alabaster and Ari Davis.
In singles action the Fighting Knights took three straight matches to seal the victory. Iannozzi picked up his 15th win while remaining undefeated in the sixth slot with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Burger. 36th-ranked Riggs got the better side of Marchione in a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), win at the No. 2 spot, getting vengeance from his earlier defeat when the two met during the regular season. Pavel Mojha concluded the day with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-3, win over DiFelice in the four spot for Lynn's fifth point.
37th-ranked Porkop was ahead of Alabaster 7-6 (7-5) 3-4 in the three slot and Volpicelli trailed Davis 6-7 (4-7), 5-2 in the five spot when play was stopped. 17th-ranked Cirla was leading his No. 1 singles match in the third set against Malte Christasen 6-3, 4-6, 4-0.
The finals for the 2014 Sunshine State Conference Tournament is between Lynn and No. 2 Barry. The Bucs defeated Lynn the last time the two rivals met during the regular season on April 6, to secure the first-ever SSC Regular Season Title. Another chapter in the storied rivalry is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 26. Last season BU has a target on its back as the Bucs defeated the Blue & White in last season's SSC finals. Fans can follow the action at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive updates by following @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.
