GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The Lee University Men's Tennis team dropped its second match of the year with a hard-fought 4-3 loss at Tusculum University. The non-conference match was played at Tusculum's Nichols Tennis Complex and took 5 ½ hours to be played.
Bruno Medeiros and Jake Okines blanked David Akinpetide and Tim Klee at No. 1 doubles. Yago Fernandez and Jacco Mensinga evened the doubles tally at 1-1 with a 6-1 score over Antonio Pons and Daniel Prata.
The No. 2 doubles matchup of Cristian Pons and Jesus Garcia against Manuel Almeida and Gabriel Yaguar was tightly contested. Pons and Garcia needed a tie-breaker score of 8-6 to win 7-6 and secure the doubles point for the Flames (4-2).
Four of the six singles contests needed three sets to determine a winner. Only the No. 1 and No. 5 spots were settled in straight sets.
Fernandez tied the team score at 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Okines. Almeida and Garcia went three sets with Garcia winning the opening set 6-2 and Almeida posting 6-1 scores in the next two sets to put the Pioneers (4-2) in the lead. Vadzim Raitsou overcame a 7-5 loss to Prata in the opening set to win the next two sets 6-1 and 6-0 to put Tusculum within one point of the team win.
Antonio Pons lost the first-set tie-breaker 7-1 to lose his opening set to Yaguar 7-6. Pons forced a third set with a 6-2 advantage in the second set and completed the comeback with a 6-4 score in the final set.
Cristian Pons took down Klee 7-5 and 6-1 to tie the match at 3-3 with the No. 6 singles match to be completed.
Bruno Medeiros won his opening set 6-4 over Marco Meon. Meon won the second set 7-6, following a 7-4 tie-breaker. Meon held off Medeiros to win the third set 6-4 and clinch the team victory.
The Flames have a few days off before traveling to Orlando, Fla., for their annual spring break trip. Lee is scheduled to battle Clark University on Monday, March 4. The match time is yet to be announced.
