MOBILE, Ala./PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Lee University men's tennis team dropped its first match of the season 5-2 Saturday morning at No. 5 West Florida then rebounded to beat Spring Hill College 6-1 Sunday afternoon. The No. 13 Flames are now 3-1 overall and 1-1 against Gulf South Conference competition.

At Mobile's Medal of Honor Park (Cottage Hill Park) Lee swept the doubles matches and claimed five of six singles matches to win the non-conference battle against Spring Hill (6-2).

Francisco Faria and Filipe Krohn took down Philip Bosman and Noah Eberhard 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. Mike Groenendijk and Yike Liu won their No. 2 doubles battle against Paul-Philipp Kern and Tom Gutermann by the same score. Wihan van der Merwe and Jordi Dasi needed a 7-5 tiebreaker to vanquish Charles Wallace and Hugo Blasco Granell 7-6.

The Flames increased their lead with a 6-2, 6-3 win by van der Merwe against Kern at No. 2 singles. Krohn posted a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles to put the visitors within one point of the team win. Dasi delivered the point needed for the team victory after dropping just two games to Wallace at No. 3 singles.

Liu defeated Jack Robinson 6-2 and 6-2 at No. 6 singles. Faria pushed Lee's advantage to 6-0 with a straight set win over Bosman at No. 1 singles. Faria held on for a 7-3 tiebreaker win in the first set and carried the momentum to a 6-1 mark in the second set.

Blasco Granell ended Lee's hopes of a shutout after outlasting Groenendijk in three sets. Blasco Granell won the opening set 6-3 and Groenendijk forced a third set with a 6-4 second set win. In the super set finale, Blasco Granell doubled-up Groenendijk 10-5 for the win.

On Saturday in Pensacola, van der Merwe and Dasi opened doubles competition with a 6-3 win over Joaquin Estevez and Bernardo Costa at No. 3 doubles. Mike and Quinn Groenendijk were edged 6-4 by Albin Ekenros and Diego Duran. Faria and Krohn took Sebastian Sotelo and Sebastian Rondon to a tiebreaker but were unable to record the win after falling 7-5 in the tiebreaker.

Rondon pushed the UWF (2-2, 1-0 GSC) lead to 2-0 after beating Quinn Groenendijk 6-2 and 6-3. Dasi was defeated by Mateo Martinez, ranked No. 15 in the region, at No. 4 singles 6-4, 6-1. Albin Ekenros clinched the team victory with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Mike Groenendijk.

Faria, ranked 17^th in the region, ended the Argo's shutout bid with a 6-4, 6-2 score against Costa, No. 15 in the region. The Flames gained another point following van der Merwe's 6-2, 6-4 upset of Sotelo, ranked No. 17 in the nation. Duran supplied the final team margin with a three-set win over Krohn at No. 5 singles.

The Flames return to action Wednesday afternoon against Lincoln Memorial University. The non-conference match is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST at LMU's Indoor Tennis Facility.


Coach Patric Hyne's Thoughts:
"Today was a good bounce back. I think we learned some things about ourselves this weekend. We will get back, get some rest and get ready for LMU on Wednesday."