CLEVELAND, Miss. – The Lee University men's tennis team posted its third consecutive win with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over host Delta State University at the Cleveland Country Club. The Flames improved to 11-3 overall and are now 2-2 in the Gulf South Conference. The Statesmen fell to 6-3 (2-2 GSC).
Mason Vice and Hugo Stroppiana doubled-up Jesus Garcia and Cristian Pons 6-3 to give Delta State an early advantage in doubles competition. Daniel Prata and Antonio Pons beat Leo De Sousa and Timo Schmitz 6-2 to leave the No. 1 doubles match to decide the doubles point. Trey Seymour and Emile Le Terrier held off Jake Okines and Bruno Medeiros 6-4 to put the Statesmen ahead 1-0 heading into singles competition.
Seymour took down Prata 6-1, 6-1 to put DSU up 2-0. Garcia held on to win his first set with Stroppiana 7-6 and finished the No. 2 singles win with a 6-0 margin in the second set to cut the Lee deficit in half.
Le Terrier posted a three-set win over Okines at No. 1 singles to extend the Delta State lead to 3-1.
Medeiros beat Breno Goncalves 6-4 and 6-2 in the sixth position and Cristian Pons evened the team score at 3-3 with a three-set win over Vice.
Antonio Pons dropped his opening set 6-4 to De Sousa and forced a third set with a 6-4 advantage of his own in the second set. Pons and De Sousa battled deep into the third set until De Sousa's shot went long to hand Pons a 7-6 third set win and set off a Lee celebration.
"This is the best win we've had with our men's program in DII, no doubt about that," said Lee head coach Patric Hynes. "We played catch up all day, but our men never stopped fighting. Very good wins for Jesus, Bruno and the twins were just incredible under pressure. They have brought so much to this program in such a short time. I'm very proud of every player on this team. They have a real bond that is genuine, and they won this one for each other today."
The Flames remain on the road with another GSC contest Sunday morning at Christian Brothers University.
