The Lee University men's tennis team opened the home portion of its 2020 season with a 5-2 defeat of Tusculum University Tuesday afternoon at the DeVos Tennis Center. The Flames improved to 3-1 with their third-straight win, while the Pioneers fell to .500 at 3-3.

"That was a gritty win for our guys," said Lee head coach Patric Hynes. "Our doubles set a great tone for the match today. Diego (Garcia) and Jordi (Dasi) got us off to a great start and Drew (Johnston) and Wihan (Van Der Merwe) stood up under pressure."

Garcia and Dasi took down Robin Eldin and Jacco Mensinga 6-1 at No. 2 doubles. Johnston and Van Der Merwe were 6-3 winners over Frank Bonacia and Kenta Kondou at No. 3 doubles to secure the doubles point. Nico Ramirez and Bruno Medeiros trailed Nemanja Subanovic and Vadzim Raitsou 5-4 when their match was left unfinished.

Dasi added to the Lee lead with a 7-5, 6-0 No. 2 singles win over Subanovic. Kondou cut the Tusculum deficit in half with a three-set win against Garcia at No. 3 singles. Ramirez dropped his opening set in an 8-6 tiebreaker to Bonacia, before rebounding to win the next two sets 6-4 and 6-3. Medeiros clinched the team victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Robin Eldin. Van Der Merwe posted an 8-4 win at No. 6 singles against Nathan Matsuguma.

"Jordi got us an important win," added Hynes. "To get a quick win like that helped us put pressure on. I'm really proud of Nico for his win today. That's a solid win for him from a set down. He's finding ways to get the job done. Bruno also stepped it up big time. That's what you want your senior to do when the match is on the line. Wihan only got a pro-set today, but he's continuing to improve with each match."

Miles Ray won the first and third sets against Drew Johnston to complete the scoring.

The Flames are scheduled to play a couple non-conference matches in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday. Lee will battle Belmont-Abbey College at 3:30 p.m. before battling host Carson-Newman University afterward.