Box Score
Lakeland, Florida - The 21st-ranked SCAD men's tennis team fell 5-4 to conference rival Southeastern in the 2016 season opener.
In doubles play, the Fire took scored the first point of the match with an 8-4 win at No. 3 doubles. Quentin Staley and Yulin Liu responded with an 8-5 win over Veliz and Noah Rawls at No. 1 doubles to even the score 1-1. At No. 2 doubles, Daiki Naka and Sean Hajdu forced a tiebreaker, but ultimately fell to Jordan Harris and Max NguyenQuocTuan 9-8 (7-5) to give Southeastern a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.
The Bees evened the score as Daiki Naka earned a win at No. 1 singles. Naka won the first set 6-3 over David Veliz, who is the fourth-ranked singles player in the NAIA. Veliz retired in the second set to give the Bees the point.
Kenta Naka extended the Bees lead to 3-2 with a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles. The Fire tied the score at 3-3 with a win at No. 4 singles, before Corrie Pickering won 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5 singles to give the Bees a 4-3 advantage.
Southeastern got wins at No. 6 and No. 3 singles to clinch the match 5-4 for the Fire.
The Bees will return to the court tomorrow when they travel to Miami, Florida to face conference foe St. Thomas. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
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