The Lee University men's tennis team opened the 2021 season with a 4-3 win over Tennessee Wesleyan University Thursday afternoon at the DeVos Tennis Center.

The Flames (1-0) grabbed the doubles point after winning two of the three matches. Bruno Medeiros and Antonio Pons beat Gabriel Ortiz and German Del Canto 6-3 at No. 1 doubles. Jesus Garcia and Cristian Pons secured the doubles win with a 6-2 defeat of Jesus Fernandez and Patryk Kosinski.

TWU (1-1) avoided the doubles sweep with a 7-6 win by Valentin Popescu and Patricio Gallegos over Daniel Prata and Jordi Dasi at No. 3 doubles.

Fernandez evened the team score with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Antonio Pons and took the lead after Del Canto finished a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 comeback win against Ramirez.

Cristian Pons won his first set easily over Popescu and won the second-set tie-break to finish the straight set victory, 6-1 and 7-6. Garcia dropped his first set 7-5 to Ortiz before posting 6-3 and 6-4 scores to win in three sets to give Lee a 3-2 lead.

Gallegos tied the team score at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 win over Dasi at No. 5 singles, leaving the No. 6 singles battle between Prata and Kosinski as the deciding match. Prata garnered a straight-set win (6-3, 6-2) to clinch the Lee win.

"Today was a great way for both teams to start the season with a close match against good competition," said Lee head coach Patric Hynes. "We battled hard and competed well the entire day which allowed them to come away with the win. Everyone played a role in winning today and we are looking forward to continuing momentum into next week."

The Flames are scheduled to travel to Tusculum University for another non-conference match on February 12. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.