MONTGOMERY, Ala. –In a tough battle against the #1 seed Valdosta State University, the Lee University men's tennis team fell 4-0 in the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference tennis tournament on Friday afternoon. The Blazers jumped out quickly in doubles and then slowly won three singles points to clinch the win. With the loss, the Flames fall to 14-5 on the season. VSU improved their record on the season to 16-0 and will take on Auburn University Montgomery in the championship game on Saturday. 
 
In doubles #1, Nico Ramirez and Francisco Faria fell 6-1. In #3 doubles, Drew Johnston, and Jordi Dasi fell 6-1. Mike Groenendijk and Quinn Groenendijk were leading in #2 doubles 4-3 when it was left uncomplete.
 
Faria was the first to fall in singles #2 as he lost to Rodrigo Carvalho in straight sets 6-3 | 6-2. Wihan Van Der Merwe fell in three sets to Christian Wendel 3-6 | 6-3 | 2-6 in the #4 singles. The final point to fall was #1 singles Ramirez as he fell 7-6 | 6-4.
 
Dasi won his first set 7-5 and lost the second set 5-7. He was about to start the third set when the match ended.
 
Quinn Groenendijk lost his first set 4-6 and won set two 6-2. He was leading 3-2 in set three when the game finished. Johnston had also split the first two set winning set one 6-4 and losing set two 3-6. He was trailing 2-3 in the third set at the end.
 
Head Coach Patric Hynes was pleased with the fight from the Flames. "Credit to Valdosta, they played a very clean doubles point. In singles they got out fast but we kept battling. We left all out on the court and that is all you could ask for. This team was a lot of fun and they really cared about each other. We broke some new ground this year. They set some goals to be in the top ten and they met them. They worked so hard all year they deserved all their success."
 
Lee will wait and see if they will qualify for the NCAA tournament. The NCAA will announce the qualifiers on Monday, April 24.