VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 16 Lee University men's tennis team's first trip to the NCAA DII South Regional came to an end with a 4-3 loss to No. 12 Saint Leo Friday afternoon at the VSU Tennis Complex. It was the first berth to the South Regional for the fifth-seeded Flames.

The fourth-seeded Lions claimed the doubles point after winning the first two finished matches. Vincent Thiel and Eduardo Cohen beat Wihan van der Merwe and Rytis Razminas 6-3 at the third position. Dylan Andrianaly and Luis Iriarte secured the 1-0 lead for Saint Leo with a 6-2 decision against Filipe Krohn and Stefan Mos.

The No. 1 doubles match was left unfinished with Lee's 11^th-ranked team of Quinn Groenendijk and Jip Langerhuizen leading Jose David Segovia and Kodai Kato 5-4.

Krohn opened singles action with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Adrianaly at the third position. In a battle of ranked players, No. 12 Thiel held off No. 57 van der Merwe 6-1 and 7-5 to put SLU back in the lead.

Cohen took down Mos 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 singles to push the Lions ahead by two points. Groenendijk won his first set with Segovia 6-2 and completed the win with a 7-6 second set, following a 7-5 tiebreaker.

Razminas needed three sets to beat Kato at No. 6 singles and leave the No. 4 singles battle to decide the team competition. Razminas posted a score of 6-2 in the first set, lost the second 6-4 and won the third 6-3.

Langerhuizen took an early advantage with a 6-4 margin in the first set. Iriarte forced a third set with a 7-5 mark in the second set, before claiming the third set 6-4 to clinch the team victory.

The Flames completed the 2025 season with a 14-4 record. Saint Leo (20-8) advanced to the final of South Regional #2 Saturday morning.


Head Coach Patric Hynes' Thoughts: