The Lee University men's tennis team, ranked No. 41, lost for the first time in its last eight matches with a 4-3 loss to No. 17 West Alabama in a Gulf South Conference contest Wednesday afternoon at the DeVos Tennis Center.
West Alabama (15-5, 7-1 GSC) swept the doubles competition to take an early 1-0 lead over the Flames (15-4, 5-3 GSC). Henrik Sinkko and Ilari Vesanen opened doubles action with a 6-2 win over Jesus Garcia and Cristian Pons. Ilia Dehodiuk and Noah Johansen doubled-up Daniel Prata and Antonio Pons 6-3 at the third spot. The 34
th ranked team of Julius Kaverinen and Linus Holthey finished the sweep with a 6-2 defeat of Jake Okines and Bruno Medeiros.
Dehodiuk opened singles competition with a 6-2, 7-5 margin over Antonio Pons at No. 3 singles. Jesus Garcia cut the Lee deficit in half with matching 6-3 set scores to register an upset win over Vesanen, ranked No. 64. Okines pulled the Flames even with another upset victory. The senior outscored UWA's 70
th-ranked Kaverinen 7-5 and 6-3.
UWA regained the lead with a 6-3, 6-4 win by No. 53 Holthey against Prata. The Tigers clinched the team win after Sinkko posted 6-3 and 6-4 scores against Medeiros.
Cristian Pons dropped his opening set 6-4 to Johansen at No. 5 singles. Pons forced a third set with a 6-1 second-set score and completed the comeback with a 6-4 margin in the third set.
The Flames finish the regular season with two road matches this weekend. Lee travels to Auburn University at Montgomery on Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT before traveling to Montevallo on Sunday.
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