Box Score
CLINTON, Miss. – The Lee University men's tennis teams finished its regular season schedule with a 5-4 decision at Gulf South Conference opponent Mississippi College Saturday afternoon.
Lee begins play in the GSC Tournament on Thursday, April 20, in Montgomery, Ala. The Flames are the No. 6 seed and will face North Alabama at O'Connor Tennis Center at 2:30 p.m.
"What a match," said Lee head coach Patric Hynes. "I'm so proud of our guys today. It is just a great result for our team today. We needed this to get ourselves ready for the GSC Tournament."
The Flames (11-5, 5-4 GSC) won two of the doubles matches and three in singles competition to claim the narrow win. Wes Lemke and Daniel Prata defeated Petar Damjanovic and Max Nilges 8-3 at No. 3 doubles. Jake Okines and Boyd Blackburn put Lee up 2-0 with an 8-5 win over Lucio Menezes and Sanders Barrick.
We got the start we needed with doubles," admitted Hynes. "Wes and Daniel played one of their best matches of the season."
The Choctaws (10-9, 5-4 GSC) stopped Lee's run with a win at No. 1 doubles. Joan Valy and Marcos Rocca beat Rhys Milne and Igor Schattan, 8-4.
The hosts won three of the first four singles matches to take a 4-3 lead and get within one point of securing the team win. Rocca defeated Okines in the third slot and Menezes downed Teodor Deljanovski 6-1 and 6-3.Schattan beat Trey Randall 6-2, 6-4 to end the Lee slide at three. Valy held off Milne to win the second-set tie-breaker 8-6 and claim the match.
"Mississippi College were always going to come back strong, but we were very solid at the bottom of the lineup," added Hynes.
Prata used a 7-5 margin to win the first-set tie-breaker and finished the straight-set victory over Damjanovic at No. 5 singles. The match was tied 4-4 with Blackburn and Nilges battling at the sixth position.
Nilges edged Blackburn 6-4 to win the opening set and Blackburn forced a third set with a 6-3 score in the second. Blackburn rode the momentum to a 6-4 third set score to win the individual and team match.
"I'm very proud of Boyd," praised Hynes. "He's been in this situation before, the match tied 4-4, and it's never easy. Last year he lost a couple of these ones, so to come through was a massive result for him and the team. Coach Tonya (McGraner) did a fantastic job coaching him to that win under huge pressure."
FLAMES 5, CHOCTAWS 4
Singles competition
1. Joan Valy (MC) def. Rhys Milne (LEE-M) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)
2. Lucio Menezes (MC) def. Teodor Deljanovski (LEE-M) 6-1, 6-3
3. Marcos Rocca (MC) def. Jake Okines (LEE-M) 6-3, 3-1, retired
4. Igor Schattan (LEE-M) def. Trey Randall (MC) 6-2, 6-4
5. Daniel Prata (LEE-M) def. Petar Damjanovic (MC) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
6. Boyd Blackburn (LEE-M) def. Max Nilges (MC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Joan Valy/Marcos Rocca (MC) def. Rhys Milne/Igor Schattan (LEE-M) 8-4
2. Jake Okines/Boyd Blackburn (LEE-M) def. Lucio Menezes/Sanders Barrick (MC) 8-5
3. Westley Lemke/Daniel Prata (LEE-M) def. Petar Damjanovic/Max Nilges (MC) 8-3
