BRADENTON, Fla. -- Barry has been down this road with Lynn before.

Many times.

Apparently, it was time to do it again.

The second-ranked Buccaneers pulled out a 5-4 win over the fifth-ranked Fighting Knights in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals Friday at IMG Academy. And boy was it a good one.

"The match was insane," Barry junior Daniel Ventura said. "I thought it was lost. The guys were fighting. I'm so happy with this whole team. We gave everything we had."

That the Bucs did in going from up a match in doubles to up two points through three singles matches to watching it slowly matriculate into a Lynn landslide. Then, with some guts and a few breaks, Barry found itself back in it when it mattered most.

A newbie to the Buccaneer program, Matias Larregina overcame a 5-4, 30-Love deficit in the third set of the final match remaining to prevail after his opponent started cramping.

"I don't know if anybody can ever read Matias' mind," Bucs longtime coach George Samuel said. "No matter what the match looks like, he always has a positive mindset to pull through. He has a lot of confidence in himself."
 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Barry 5, Lynn 4
Records: Barry (19-2), Lynn (14-6)
 

DOUBLES:

• Lynn won the first point after Kay Bartmann and Florian Clemares overcame a 6-5 deficit to beat Fernando Tous and Larregina, 8-6, at the top position.
• The Bucs bounced back with a 9-7 win at the No. 3 spot when Carlos Gomez and Vivien Versier pulled through in a spirited match with Gabriel Hocevar and Tristan Houle.
• Then with a momentum-testing, pivotal pairs match lying in the balance, Barry's boys of Pierre Montrieul and Blake Bayldon survived a 9-8 (7-5) battle of attrition with Jean-Baptiste Mateo and Jose Porfirio at the middle position to take a 2-1 lead into singles.

SINGLES:

• The Fighting Knights tied the match at 2-2 when 46th-ranked Bartmann beat 14th-ranked Gomez, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 2 singles.
• Fourty ninth-ranked Ventura gave the Bucs the lead back with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Hocevar at No. 5.
• Ninth-ranked Montrieul won a tough first set with sixth-ranked Mateo, 7-5, and cruised in the second, 6-1, to put the Buccaneers in front, 4-2.
• Lynn responded with wins at No. 6 and No. 3 as Porfirio took down Bayldon, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, and Clemares rallied to beat 68th-ranked Versier, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, respectively to square things up at 4-4.
• Then with 63rd-ranked Houle leading 72nd-ranked Larregina, 5-4, in the third set, the Bucs newcomer overcame his opponent's cramping to pull out a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 semifinals-clinching victory. 

NOTEWORTHY:

• Barry beat Lynn twice this season by 5-4 verdicts.
• The Bucs led, 2-1, after doubles in the regular season match between the two teams.
• Ventura secured his 16th singles victory of the season, matching Versier for the team lead.
• Gomez and Versier have won 12 straight pairs matches.
• Larregina has won three traditional three-set matches this year, and another decided in a third-set super tiebreaker.
• Montrieul improved to a team-best 8-2 against ranked opponents this season.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"We were tested. We were under the pressure, and responded under the pressure. That's a good thing. I think the guys are pumped right now to play Saint Leo."

ON THE HORIZON:

Barry will play No. 1 Saint Leo for the SSC title 1 p.m. Saturday.

BOX SCORE