MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University's No. 1-ranked men's tennis team beat No. 25 Florida Southern, 8-1, Friday in a Sunshine State Conference match. The Buccaneers improved to 9-0 overall, 4-0 in the SSC. Florida Southern fell to 1-3, 1-3.
Barry will take its unbeaten record to Southern California next week when the Buccaneers will play No. 11 Azusa Pacific, No. 10 Fresno Pacific and No. 12 UC-San Diego Wednesday-Friday.
The Bucs No. 1 doubles team of Fabian Groetsch and Ahmed Triki encountered their second straight challenge in as many matches. Ranked 14th in the country in NCAA Division II, Groetsch and Triki trailed FSC's Emanuel Lueber and Benoit Paradis, 5-3. Groetsch ripped off an ace as the Bucs drew within a game, 5-4.
But Lueber and Paradis won the next game to go back up, 6-4. The Bucs won the next two games to tie it a 6-6. Groetsch and Triki broke the Moccasins' serve in the ensuing game as Groetsch pounded down a winner to give Barry a 7-6 advantage. Triki served for the win in the following game, giving the Bucs a 2-0 match lead.
Barry's Ollie Lemaitre and Renato Lombardi won their No. 3 pairs match, 8-3, over Vladimir Barabash and Charles Garneau for the first point. At No. 2 doubles, Romain Costamagna and Leo Vivas were enveloped in a 15-minute game in the middle of their match with Carl Lundberg and Nathan Leavitt before pulling away for an 8-4 win.
Two of the three singles matches were extended to a super tiebreaker with the Bucs winning one of them. 12th-ranked Groetsch stormed back to defeat Paradis, 4-6, 6-1, 10-5, at No. 2. At No. 5, Barry's Eduardo Alfonzo fell to Barabash, 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.
Barry's Nico Dreer won first No. 1 singles match of the season, beating the 49th-ranked Lueber, 6-3, 6-0. It was Dreer's third win over a ranked opponent this year. Vivas, ranked No. 37, got by Lundberg in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 3. Lemaitre had no problems with Leavitt, winning 6-0, 6-2, at No. 4. Franco Echenique was an easy 6-1, 6-0 winner over Garneau.
It was the fifth time this year Barry has won a dual match by an 8-1 score. In all but one of the matches -- the 6-3 win over No. 2 Armstrong Atlantic -- the Buccaneers haven't dropped more than one match.
Barry will return home Tuesday, March 11 vs. No. 3 West Florida at 3 p.m.
