The Lee University men's tennis team opened Gulf South Conference action with a 5-2 loss to No. 3 West Florida Saturday afternoon at the DeVos Tennis Center.

The Argos (2-0, 2-0 GSC) claimed two of the three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead. Serdar Bojadjiev and Adam Svensson beat Bruno Medeiros and Antonio Pons 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. Daniel Prata and Jordi Dasi were 6-2 winners over Nicolas Lecoutre and William Shkrob to make the No. 2 doubles competition the decider for the team point. Gabriel Nery and Salvador Bandeira held off Jesus Garcia and Cristian Pons 7-5 to give UWF the early 1-0 lead.

Lecoutre defeated Antonio Pons 6-2, 6-2 to add to the visitor's lead. Bandeira put UWF up 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Ramirez.

Jesus Garcia upset Bojadjiev, ranked No. 11, at No. 1 singles to keep the Flames (1-2, 0-1 GSC) alive. Garcia won the first set 6-4, lost the second set by a 7-4 tie-break score and completed the win with a 6-3 margin in the third set.

No. 30 Juan Cabrera overcame a first-set loss to beat Dasi in three sets and clinch the team win. Cristian Pons fell 6-1 to Juan Motta in their first set before winning the second in a tie-breaker and completing the comeback with a 6-3 advantage in the third set.

"We played a pretty good match today," said Lee head coach Patric Hynes. "We had very good win for Jordi and Daniel in doubles and Jesus and Cristian in singles."

Nery claimed a three-set win over Medeiros at No 6 singles to supply the final team score.

"Bigger picture, we have played a little better with each match," added Hynes. "That's a very experienced top five team and we stuck with them all day today. I'm looking forward to getting back out there after some rest and competing again next week."

The Flames are scheduled to play Carson-Newman University on Wednesday, February 24. The non-conference match is set for a 2 p.m. start.