MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 11 Lee University women's tennis team was eliminated from the Gulf South Conference Championship with a 4-3 loss to Montevallo Thursday morning at Lagoon Park. The third-seeded Lady Flames (13-3) claimed two of the three doubles matches, while the No. 6 seed Falcons (9-7) won four of six singles competitions to post the upset win.

Claire Jaramba and Klara Podskubkova opened the doubles competition with a 6-3 defeat of Maria Penalver Aguilo and Kanna Kobayakawa to give UM an early advantage. Ashleigh Simes and Aliyah Dwyer, ranked No. 27, beat Johanna Kullman and Greta Vagnini 6-4 at No. 1 doubles. Mirjana Ragastovac and Vitoria Maximiliano won 6-3 at No. 3 doubles against Elena Ondobo and London Breedlove to secure the doubles point.

Simes, ranked No. 1 in singles, added another point to Lee's total with matching 6-1 set scores against Podskubkova. Dwyer put Lee ahead 3-0 after holding off Jaramba 6-3 and 7-5 at No. 3 singles.

Breedlove ended the Lee shutout with a 6-1, 7-5 win against Maximiliano at No. 6 singles. Kullman took down Ragastovac 7-5 and 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Vagnini claimed two tiebreakers at No. 5 singles to tie the team score at 3-3, leaving the No. 2 singles match as the decider.

Ondobo won the first set with No. 65 Penalver Aguilo by a 6-4 margin and Penalver Aguilo forced a third set with a 6-3 score in the second set. Ondobo clinched the team victory with a 6-3 third set win.

The Lady Flames will have to wait until May 5 to find out if they are one of the seven teams to advance to the 2025 NCAA Division II South Region Championship. Lee was ranked No. 5 in this week's South Region ranking prior to the GSC Championship. There will be another region ranking released on April 30.