SAINT LEO, Fla. -- Saint Leo took down its second nationally ranked opponent this week, edging No. 22 Southern Indiana by a score of 5-4 on Thursday afternoon as the Saint Leo Tennis Center.
The win advances the Lions to 9-3 on the season, while the Screaming Eagles drop to a mark of 9-4.
The Lions fell behind in doubles action after the Southern Indiana duo of Jack Joyce and Josh Walden defeated Aloua Adjenak and Fons Verberne 8-4 at No. 2 doubles. Saint Leo bounced back, picking up a win at No. 1 doubles as Matt Nicholoson-Lewis and Victor Lozier took down the tandem of Santiago Lopez and Joe Bray 8-5.
Jacobo Gonzalez-Tarrio and Oskar Nurmio defeated Dimitri Stocker and Joel Stern 9-7 at No. 3 doubles to give Saint Leo a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.
Verberne gave Saint Leo a 3-1 advantage by earning a quick 6-0, 6-0 victory against Stocker at No. 6 singles, followed by Nurmio defeating Bray 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 3 position to pull the Lions ahead 4-1.
Lozier finished next, earning a 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 win versus Walden at No. 4 singles to pull the Lions ahead 5-1, but the Screaming Eagles were not about to back down. Stern answered back at the No. 5 position, defeating Gonzalez-Tarrio 6-1, 3-6, 13-11, followed by Lopez defeating Adjenak at No. 1 singles 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to set the score at 5-3.
Southern Indiana kept the fight alive at the No. 2 slot to close out the day as Joyce took down Nicholson-Lewis after a long battle 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
