Miami Shores, Fla.- Lynn University's eighth-ranked men's tennis team lost to No. 2 Barry (17-2) on Sunday morning in the final match of the regular season. 2014 marks the first time in Sunshine State Conference history that there would be crowned a regular season champion for men's tennis. The stage was set at the Buccaneer Tennis Center where the Fighting Knights would battle the Bucs for the title. Both teams had a perfect 5-0 conference record prior to the match.
Lynn (12-5) fell behind quickly in the match, trailing 3-0 to BU after doubles but Fighting Knights did not go down easy. No. 3 Ahmed Triki and Ollie Lemaitre defeated the Blue & White's Daniel Riggs and Paolo Volpicelli, 8-6, at the No. 1 spot. Lynn's No. 2 doubles team of Vlad Cirla and Pavel Mojha lost, 8-6, to Leo Vivas and Romain Costamagna. Alessio Iannozzi and Tomas Prokop's 12-match win streak was snapped when they lost 9-8 (7-5) to the Bucs' Kevin Sielmann and Renato Lombardi.
No. 4, 5, and 6 singles all went to three sets but the damage was already done. In his first match since March 10, No. 17 Cirla lost to No. 8 Triki, 6-3, 6-4, at the top singles spot. No. 11 Fabian Groetsch defeated No. 37 Prokop in straight sets of 6-2 to clinch Barry's win. No. 36 Daniel Riggs was defeated by Costamagna at No. 3 singles, 6-1, 6-4.
Volpicelli took Nico Dreer to three when he took the second set, 7-5, after losing the opener, 6-3. Unfortunately the freshman from Rome, Italy, lost 13-11 in the deciding set. Mojha won the opening set at No. 5 singles, 6-4, before losing the second, 3-6. He bounced back to dominate in a 10-3 third set to give Lynn it's first point of the match. Senior Alessio Iannozzi beat Lombardi, 7-5, in the first set. He dropped the second, 3-6, but rallied strong to win the final set 10-6.
This was the 100th time in program history the two teams clashed since first playing in 1989. Lynn leads the all-time series 26-24 after Sunday's loss.
The Fighting Knights return to action at the Sunshine State Conference Tournament April 24-26, hosted by Rollins in Winter Park, Fla. Fans can follow the men's tennis team throughout the post-season at LynnFightingKnights.com. Don't forget to 'Like' us on Facebook and follow @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.
