VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Lee University men's tennis team was defeated 5-2 by No. 19 Valdosta State University Saturday afternoon at the VSU Tennis Courts.

"We were on the back foot from the first point today," admitted Lee head coach Patric Hynes. "VSU jumped us in doubles and played well."

The Blazers (6-3, 3-0 GSC) swept the doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. Yohan Nguyen and Florian Simbozel beat Bruno Medeiros and Antonio Pons 6-0. Luca Mack and Edward Etty won 6-1 against Jesus Garcia and Cristian Pons. Nico Ramirez and Drew Johnston were outlasted 7-5 by Robert Cizek and Adam Kalivoda.

Kalivoda extended the VSU lead with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles against Johnston and Mack beat Cristian Pons 6-2 and 6-2 to put the hosts within one singles win of securing the team win. Simbozel clinched the team victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ramirez.

Lee (3-5, 1-3 GSC) ended the shutout with Medeiros' three-set win over Etty. Medeiros dropped the opening set 6-3 before forcing a third set with a 6-0 mark in set No. 2. Medeiros completed the comeback with a 6-3 tally in the third set.

VSU grabbed another point at No. 5 singles. Cizek won 6-2 in the first set and held off Antonio Pons 7-5 in the second for the win.

Garcia split the first two sets with Nguyen, ranked No. 7 nationally in singles, by matching 6-4 scores. The sophomore posted a 10-4 super set tiebreak score to supply the final team margin.

"Our response in singles was fine. I thought Bruno set a great example for his team today and Jesus came up with a huge win against a top 10 player," added Hynes. "We will head to Orlando and keep working. It's time for us to build some momentum over the break."

The Flames return to action with two matches on Monday in Orlando, Florida. Lee challenges Wayne State University at 10:30 a.m. EDT, followed by a 6:30 p.m. date with Dickinson College.