No. 8 Tars Take Third Place from No. 7 Mocs at SSC Tourney

Rollins avenged a regular season loss to Florida Southern on Saturday as the eighth-ranked Tars defeated the seventh-ranked Mocs 5-1 in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament Third Place match.

The Tars (17-9) picked up two key doubles wins and finished off the Mocs with wins in the four, five and six singles matches.

Florida Southern took a one-point lead as Girts Dzelde and Constantin Sturdza were defeated in the No. 3 doubles match 8-2 by Christian Lange and C.J. Johnson. The Tars then turned the tables and won the next two matches to gain the advantage heading into singles. In the top flight match, fourth-ranked Jeff Morris and Neil Clausen defeated Michael Knoedler and Guenther Fercher 8-5 while 23rd-ranked Pablo Seijo and Nick Rowlands took Ben Taylor and Brian deMontfort 8-5 at No. 2.

The top two singles matches featured battles between ranked players, but went unfinished as the Tars closed the door on the Mocs with wins at the bottom of the line-up. Dzelde took the No. 4 match over Fercher 6-0, 6-3, Chris Herbert was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Johnson at No. 6 and Sturdza took the decider at No. 5, defeating Taylor 6-2, 6-4.

The Tars will be back in action at the NCAA Division II Tournament, which will begin with the first and second rounds on May 6-8 at campus sites to be determined.

#8 Rollins 5, #7 Florida Southern 1
04/17/10 at Lakeland, Fla. (Beerman Tennis Facility)

Singles competition
1. #15 Michael Knoedler (FSM) vs. #8 Jeff Morris (RCM) unfinished
2. #33 Christian Lange (FSM) vs. #34 Neil Clausen (RCM) unfinished
3. Nicolas Bigler (FSM) vs. Arturo Baravalle (RCM) unfinished
4. Girts Dzelde (RCM) def. Guenther Fercher (FSM) 6-0, 6-3
5. Constantin Sturdza (RCM) def. Ben Taylor (FSM) 6-2, 6-4
6. Chris Herbert (RCM) def. C.J. Johnson (FSM) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. #4 Jeff Morris/Neil Clausen (RCM) def. Michael Knoedler/Guenther Fercher (FSM) 8-5
2. #23 Pablo Seijo/Nick Rowlands (RCM) def. Ben Taylor/Brian deMontfort (FSM) 8-5
3. Christian Lange/C.J. Johnson (FSM) def. Girts Dzelde/Constantin Sturdza (RCM) 8-2
Match Notes
Rollins 17-9; National ranking #8
Florida Southern 14-7; National ranking #7
Third Place - Sunshine State Conference Tournament
Match order - Doubles: 3,2,1; Singles: 6,4, 5
Rollins wins 5-1 - Rollins 3rd, Florida Southern 4th