Pensacola, Fla.- Lynn University's sixth-ranked men's tennis team battled back from a 2-1 doubles deficit in the NCAA South Region #2 Semifinals against Sunshine State Conference foe Rollins on Saturday afternoon. The Blue & White took a 4-3 lead in singles play but the Tars emerged victorious 5-4 ending the Blue & White's season. Lynn posted a 16-5 overall record this year and reached the NCAA Tournament for the 13th-straight season.
It was a back-and-forth battle in doubles play as each court exchanged multiple leads. Pavel Mojha and Mehdi Laalej were down 8-7 but came back to force a tiebreaker with No. 20 Anton Bettink and Adrian Di Felice. Daniel Riggs and Alessio Iannozzi also forced a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles and went on to defeat Patrick Sell and Jacobo Herrero 9-8 (7-2) in the tiebreaker. Seconds later Mojha and Laalej fell 9-8 (9-7) in a tiebreak giving Rollins their first point of the match bringing to overall score even at 1-1.
At the No. 3 doubles spot, Paolo Volpicelli and Fernando Rivas also forced a tiebreaker after Robin Marchione and Malte Christesen came back from trailing 8-7. The Fighting Knights duo lost 9-8 (14-12) which gave RC a 2-1 match lead heading to singles play.
Rollins took a 3-1 lead in the match when fifth-ranked Bettink defeated No. 8 Riggs, 6-2, 6-2, at the top of the singles lineup. Iannozzi defeated Keegan Burger 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 6 singles spot to make it a 3-2 overall match score. Mojha won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to tie the match 3-3.
The final three singles matches all went into a third set. No. 46 Rivas won his first set 6-1 but Sell bounced back to tie the match with a 6-4 win in the second set. Rivas pulled out a 6-4 win in the deciding set to give Lynn a 4-3 lead in the match.
Laalej fell to Christesen 6-4 in the first set but won 6-2 in the second. The Tars' No. 4 man won 6-4 in the rubber set to tie the overall match score at four-all. It came down to No. 5 singles. After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, Volpicelli cruised to a 6-0 win in set two. His counterpart, Di Felice, however emerged victorious in the final set, 6-3, lifting the Tars to a 5-4 final.
Lynn finishes the season 16-5 overall ranked sixth in the latest ITA National Poll while Rollins (15-9) advances to the NCAA South Regional #2 Finals where it will face defending national champion West Florida on Sunday, May 3.
The Blue & White returns three starters from this season's squad as seniors Alessio Iannozzi, Pavel Mojha and Paolo Volpicelli all graduate this May.
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