MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University men's tennis held serve Sunday to beat Saint Leo, 7-2, in match that was delayed an hour-and-a-half for rain at Buccaneer Tennis Center.
The No. 4-ranked Buccaneers swept the doubles en route to a solid win over the No. 12 Lions to improve to 6-0 overall, 5-0 in the Sunshine State Conference. Saint Leo fell to 5-3, 1-2.
"Definitely a good win," said Bucs assistant coach Thomas Hipp, who celebrated his birthday Sunday. "Saint Leo has been getting better the past two years. Last year we had a really close match, so that's why this year we really came out focused. We wanted to show them that we were the better team. We were the favorite, but it's still sports so you need to play it out."
Saint Leo was missing one of its top players, but the Buccaneers were impressive nonetheles. The Bucs No. 2-ranked doubles team of Marco Mokrzycki and Fabian Groetsch were nearly flawless in an 8-1 win over Aloua Adjenak and Antoine Raffaelli at the top flight.
Romain Costamagna and Ollie Lemaitre continued to roll, beating Bruno Sisti and Matt Nicholson-Lewis, 8-4, at No. 2. Max Wimmer and Leo Vivas defeated Ismail Lemtouni and Jake Fleischer, 8-5, at No. 3. Wimmer fired off a piercing ace on match point to clinch it.
"We came strong in the doubles, and I think that paved our way for a 7-2 win," Hipp said.
Wimmer was dominant in a 6-1, 6-2 No. 4 singles win over Lemtouni, hitting precise backhand winners for points in routine fashion. Groetsch, the No. 16-ranked singles player in the country, was equally impressive in his 6-3, 6-1 victory over Sisti at the No. 2 spot.
Freshman Eduardo Alfonzo earned his stripes again, beating Fleischer, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6. Costamagna had an easy go of it in a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jacobo Gonzalez at No. 5.
The Lions two ranked players accounted for both of Saint Leo's wins. Nicholson-Lewis, the No. 29-ranked player in the nation, defeated Barry's Renato Lombardi, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 3. Ranked No. 21, Adjenak upset seventh-ranked Mokrzycki, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6, at the top singles spot.
"They had to come out strong because they needed to come back from behind," Hipp said of the Lions' singles play. "They gave us a good fight, but many first sets we were winning."
The Buccaneers will host No. 9 Augusta State at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
"We like to win, but we hate to lose," Hipp said. "Always feels great to have that zero (at the end of the record). We always want to keep that zero going."
