LAKELAND, Fla. (February 26, 2022) - The no. 18 ranked St. Thomas University Men's Tennis team competed in a nationally ranked matchup with no. 24 Southeastern University on the road. The team fought hard but ultimately fell to the Fire in a tight 4-3 decision. The Bobcats got off to a slow start losing all three doubles spots before heading into singles play.

The Bobcats quickly fell behind 2-0 with Lucas Ribas losing at #3 6-2, 6-2. Alessandro Tabares got the Bobcats on the board with a solid performance at #4, winning 6-4, 7-5. However, Tomas Pejanovic lost an extremely tight match at #1 6-4, 7-6 to bring the match total to 3-1 in favor of the Fire.

Luis Leon then sealed a 7-6, 6-2 win on #6 to bring the Bobcats back within striking distance. Ultimately, Freshmen Tomas Lopez Salazar lost in a hard fought battle at #5 by a score of 7-6, 7-6 to seal the win for the Fire. Raul Safont came back from a one set deficit to win 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 to bring the final margin to 4-3.

Coach Roche said, "The guys fought very hard today. We fell behind early in the match, but competed on almost every singles court to give ourselves a shot at pulling off a come from behind victory. Although it ultimately fell short, this shows us that we can compete at an extremely high level, as Southeastern just recently upset the #4 team in the nation 5-2. I'm excited to see the continued growth of our young team throughout the rest of the season."

-STU-