MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The Lee University men's tennis team won its regular season finale 4-0 at Montevallo Saturday afternoon at the Montevallo Tennis Court Complex. The No. 10 Flames improved to 13-4 overall and 6-3 within the Gulf South Conference (GSC), while the Falcons dropped to 8-9, 3-6 GSC.
Lee made quick work of the doubles competition to take an early 1-0 lead. Drew Johnston and Jordi Dasi teamed up to beat Nick Hartmann and Rien Alderliesten 6-0. Mike and Quinn Groenendijk, ranked No. 47 in doubles, took down Paul Sobich and Dylan Kamel 6-1. The No. 1 doubles match was left unfinished with Montevallo's Philippe Zehender and Fabricio Sosa leading Nico Ramirez and Francisco Faria 4-3.
The Flames went up 2-0 after 62
nd-ranked Faria won due to retirement. Faria was leading 4-0 in the first set when Sobich was unable to continue. Dasi held off Julius Ziebart 7-5 to win their first set and completed the straight-set win with a 6-1 score in the second set.
Wihan Van Der Merwe clinched the team victory with matching 7-5 scores in both sets against Viktor Ek Johansson.
The No. 1 singles match was left unfinished. Ramirez and Zehender split the first two sets in the No. 1 singles matchup with Zahender winning the first set 6-4 and Ramirez, ranked No. 27, claiming the second set with a 7-5 tiebreaker. The third set ended with Zehender leading 2-1. The No. 5 and No. 6 singles had not started when the team match had been decided.
The Flames will enter the GSC Championship as the No. 5 seed and will face fourth-seeded West Alabama on Thursday, April 20. The quarterfinal matchup will be contested at Lagoon Park and O'Connor Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala.