ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Saint Leo toppled its second higher-ranked opponent in seven days as it took down No. 6 Concordia (N.Y.) on Monday afternoon at the Flagler Tennis Center.
The Lions advance their record to 6-2 on the season, while the Clippers drop their first contest of 2014 and fall to a mark of 2-1.
Saint Leo found themselves with a 2-1 advantage after doubles play, kicking off with the tandem of Ismail Lemtouni and Bruno Sisti defeating Rafael Ferreira and Ricardo Frey 8-5 at the No. 3 position. Matt Nicholson-Lewis and Victor Lozier finished next, earning an 8-5 victory at No. 2 doubles versus the No. 25 duo of Juuso Ojanen and Pulat Babadjanov to pull the Lions ahead 2-0 overall.
It was a long battle at No. 1 doubles, but Concordia came out on top as the No. 1 pair of Daniele Piludu and Benas Majauskas took down Fons Verberne and Aloua Adjenak 9-7.
The Clippers pulled even entering into singles action, with fourth-ranked Ojanen earning a 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles versus Sisti to pull the overall score to 2-2.
Nicholson-Lewis gave the Lions the lead as he closed up shop at No. 3 singles, but it was a hard-fought battle. Nicholson-Lewis picked up the first set versus Olfans with a score of 7-5, but his opponent battled back in the second set to win 3-6 to send play into a tiebreaker. After a back-and-forth battle, Nicholson-Lewis put away his opponent by a score of 12-10 to give Saint Leo the 3-2 lead.
Jacobo Gonzalez-Tarrio gave the Lions an even larger lead, defeating Ofir Ginat at No. 6 singles 6-4, 6-1 followed by No. 50 Lemtouni toppling No. 18 Majauskas 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) to give the Lions a 5-2 advantage.
Fifth-ranked Piludu picked up the next win, earning a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Adjenak at No. 2 singles to pull the Clippers to within two, 5-3, but Saint Leo sealed the deal with a 6-1, 6-3 victory by Lozier versus Ferreira at No. 5 singles.
