LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The No. 17 Lee University men's tennis team was upset 5-2 Friday afternoon at West Alabama. The Gulf South Conference contest was played at the Vaughan Tennis Complex. The Flames dropped to 8-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play, while the Tigers improved to 6-5, 3-1 GSC.

Ilari Vesanen and Ilia Dehodiuk opened doubles action with a 6-2 win against Diego Garcia and Jordi Dasi. Loic Danze and Nuutti Jokinen secured the team point for UWA after defeating Drew Johnston and Wihan Van Der Merwe 6-3. The 50^th-ranked doubles team of Marcel Hornung and Lucas Hammond outlasted No. 32 Nico Ramirez and Bruno Medeiros 6-4 to sweep the doubles competition.

Ramirez, ranked No. 21 in singles, evened the team score at 1-1 with win over Hornung at No. 1 singles. He won the first set tiebreaker to win the opening set 7-6 and carried the momentum to a 6-3 mark in the second set.

Vesanen, ranked No. 56, posted a three-set win over Dasi at No. 2 singles. Dasi won the first set 6-3 before Vesanen forced a third set with a 10-8 second-set tiebreaker. Vesanen completed the comeback with a 6-2 third set win.

Dehodiuk fell 6-2 to Garcia in their opening set, won the second set with a 7-4 tiebreaker and completed the win with a 6-3 score in the third set to put UWA up 3-1. Van Der Merwe beat Danze 6-2 and 6-3 at No. 5 singles to pull the Flames within one point.

Jokinen overcame a 6-4 first set loss with 6-1 and 6-3 scores in the next two sets to clinch the team victory. Hammond posted a 7-2 tiebreaker tally in his first set with Denis Muratovic and completed the team scoring with a 6-1 second-set score.

The Flames return home to face Mississippi College on Sunday. The GSC matchup is set for 1 p.m. EDT at the DeVos Tennis Center.