The Lee University Men's Tennis team defeated Lees-McRae College 7-0 Saturday afternoon at the DeVos Tennis Center. The Flames improved to 3-0, while the Bobcats fell to 2-2.
"I'm happy we took care of business today," said Hynes. "The guys are playing well and did a great job stepping out and taking control of their courts in doubles."
The Flames quickly swept through the doubles competition to gain the early 1-0 advantage. Daniel Prata and Antonio Pons won 6-0 over Brandon Caldwell and Colton Porter at No. 3 doubles. Jesus Garcia and Cristian Pons shut out Matt Meluch and James Kirkham 6-0 to secure the doubles point. Jake Okines and Bruno Medeiros completed the doubles sweep with a 6-0 blanking of Miodrag Popovic and Fitzgerald Lomp.
Okines posted a 6-1, 6-1 win over Lomp to open the singles scoring. Antonio Pons beat Meluch at No. 3 singles 6-2 and 6-2. Garcia clinched the team win after dropping just one game to Popovic in the top spot.
Medeiros continued the win streak with a 6-2, 6-0 score against Caldwell. Cristian Pons won both of his sets against Kirkham 6-1 to win the No. 4 singles matchup. Max Schroeder kept Lees-McRae off the board with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Porter.
Following Saturday's match, the Flames traveled to Chattanooga for their second exhibition against an NCAA Division I opponent. Sunday afternoon's match against UTC was played indoors at the Guerry Tennis Center.
Chattanooga (6-4) won two of the three doubles matches to carry a 1-0 lead into singles competition. Prata and Antonio Pons were 6-0 winners at No. 3 doubles against Cooper Long and Kaisei Kuroki.
Lee's team point came from Antonio Pons at the fourth position. Pons dropped his opening set to Simon Bustamante 6-3, but fought back to claim the second and third sets by the same 6-3 margin.
The Flames are scheduled to open Gulf South Conference play on Saturday against West Florida. The match is slated for a 10 a.m. start at the DeVos Tennis Center.
"We need to get some practice in and just keep doing what we've been doing," said Hynes. "West Florida is always kind of the benchmark for the conference, so we won't have to motivate our guys too much to play that one."
