Fire Receive Total Team Effort in Take-down of Royals
LAKELAND, Fla.- The Southeastern University men’s tennis team played with confidence and vigor, as the Fire earned an impressive 7-2 win over the Warner University Royals to kick-off the 2019 regular season and Sun Conference play.
The Fire gained steam with a 2-1 start in doubles’ play.
The combo of Felipe Barbosa and Thomas Ortega earned the first win for SEU at the No. 2 doubles 8-3. The duo of Lucca Marcheschi and Enrique Martinez earned Southeastern the advantage heading into the break with an 8-6 victory at the No. 3 doubles.
Ortega was the catalyst for the Fire to commence singles’ action, making quick work of his opponent in two sets (6-0, 6-2) at the No. 6 pairing.
Marcheschi was the next to earn a point for SEU, earning wins of 6-3 and 6-4 at No. 3.
The freshman Martinez clinched the match for the Fire with a pair of 6-4 set-wins at the No. 4 singles.
With the match decided, fans were still treated to a pair of entertaining singles’ matches to conclude the day.
First, at No. 1, Barbosa battled back from a 9-4 deficit in the third set super-tiebreaker to earn an emotional 11-9 victory.
Finishing the day for SEU at No. 2 was Hofstra transfer Santiago Haas, who battled to a 10-8 win in a third set super-tiebreaker of his own.
“It is great celebrate this win the right way, but we will be right back at it in practice tomorrow to prepare for St. Thomas,” commented interim head coach Drew Dickens, who earned his first two wins as a collegiate head coach this afternoon.
The Fire look to carry the momentum from their hot start into another key conference match this weekend. SEU travels to take on St. Thomas this Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
