MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 27 Lee University men's tennis team played away from the DeVos Tennis Center for just the fourth time this season and came away with a 6-1 win at Auburn University in Montgomery. The Flames posted its fourth straight win to improve to 10-2 and 3-2 in the GSC, while the Warhawks dropped to 6-6 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Wihan van der Merwe and Jace Sanford doubled-up Mark Nawa and Augustin Wallert to open with a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles. Filipe Krohn and Stefan Mos beat Raphael Pertusier and Dominik Vonbank 6-2 at No. 2 doubles to secure the doubles point. AUM's Giuseppe Bonaiuti and Jami Savolainen avoided the sweep with a 6-4 win against No. 12 Quinn Groenendijk and Jip Langerhuizen.
Langerhuizen dropped just one game to Pertusier in winning the No. 4 singles match 6-1 and 6-0. Mos pushed the Lee advantage to 3-0 with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Eduardo Acevedo at No. 5 singles. Krohn easily defeated Savolainen 6-1 in their opening set of the No. 3 singles match. He completed the straight set win with a 7-5 tiebreaker to clinch the team victory.
Vonbank ended Lee's shutout hopes with a three-set win over Groenendijk. Groenendijk won the first set 6-2 and Vonbank claimed the second set with a 7-3 tiebreaker and won the third set tiebreaker 10-7.
The Flames posted two three-set wins of their own. At No. 1 singles, van der Merwe won the first and third sets over No. 24 Bonaiuti by matching 6-4 scores. Bonaiuti won the second set 6-4. Rytis Razminas beat Mark Nawa at No. 6 singles with a 7-5 margin in the first set and a 10-8 super set score in the third set. Nawa beat Razminas 6-2 in the second set.
The Flames travel to Montevallo, Alabama, on Tuesday to take on No. 45 University of Montevallo to complete a stretch of two straight road contests. The GSC match is set for 2 p.m. ET at the Montevallo Tennis Court Complex.
Coach Patric Hynes' Thoughts:
"Our guys really showed up today. We have had a really busy two week period, and to come here on the road in the GSC and perform well was a great effort. AUM is not an easy place to win at and their guys fought hard.
"Jip was really strong for us at No. 4. His game has grown a lot already this year and he got us a great start in singles.
"We'll go back and get some rest and start to get ready for Montevallo on Tuesday."
