The Lee University tennis teams opened the home portion of its 2020 season Tuesday afternoon against Tusculum University at the DeVos Tennis Center. The Flames claimed a 5-2 win, while the Lady Flames fell by a 5-2 margin.
The Flames won both completed doubles matches and claimed wins in four of the six singles contests to improve to 3-1 with their third-straight win, while the Pioneers fell to .500 at 3-3.
“That was a gritty win for our guys,” said Lee head coach Patric Hynes.
“Our doubles set a great tone for the match today. Diego (Garcia) and Jordi (Dasi) got us off to a great start and Drew (Johnston) and Wihan (Van Der Merwe) stood up under pressure.”
Garcia and Dasi took down Robin Eldin and Jacco Mensinga 6-1 at No. 2 doubles. Johnston and Van Der Merwe were 6-3 winners over Frank Bonacia and Kenta Kondou at No. 3 doubles to secure the doubles point. Nico Ramirez and Bruno Medeiros trailed Nemanja Subanovic and Vadzim Raitsou 5-4 when their match was left unfinished.
Dasi added to the Lee lead with a 7-5, 6-0 No. 2 singles win over Subanovic. Kondou cut the Tusculum deficit in half with a three-set win against Garcia at No. 3 singles. Ramirez dropped his opening set in an 8-6 tiebreaker to Bonacia, before rebounding to win the next two sets 6-4 and 6-3. Medeiros clinched the team victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Robin Eldin. Van Der Merwe posted an 8-4 win at No. 6 singles against Nathan Matsuguma.
“Jordi got us an important win,” added Hynes. “To get a quick win like that helped us put pressure on. I’m really proud of Nico for his win today. That’s a solid win for him from a set down. He’s finding ways to get the job done. Bruno also stepped it up big time. That’s what you want your senior to do when the match is on the line. Wihan only got a pro-set today, but he’s continuing to improve with each match.”
Miles Ray won the first and third sets against Drew Johnston to complete the scoring.
In the women’s match, Ashleigh Simes and Matina Ujdur gave Lee an early advantage in doubles play with a 6-4 win at the No. 1 spot against Elodie Baechler and Tabitha Howe. Leonie Floeth and Paulina Loretz beat Micaela Belen Maiz and Larissa Wieser 6-3. Emilie Hansen and Valentina Loretz outlasted Hayden Smith and Mirjana Ragastovac 7-5 to secure the doubles point for Tusculum.
Simes posted her second win of the day with matching 6-2 scores to beat Baechler at No. 1 singles. The Pioneers regained the lead with Howe’s 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Ujdur. Floeth claimed a 7-5, 6-3 win against Belen Maiz to push Tusculum’s lead to 3-1. Valentina Loretz clinched the team victory after beating Smith 6-1 and 6-1.
Ragastovac won her first set with Hansen 6-4 and posted a 7-5 score in a tiebreaker to complete the straight set win at No. 4 singles. Paulina Loretz was a 6-1, 6-4 winner against Donaldson at No. 5 singles to supply the final 5-2 team score.
“We get another chance to bounce back tomorrow, so that’s what we are going to try and do,” said Hynes. “Ash (Simes)is giving us great opportunities and it was good for Mima (Ragastovac) to win her first dual match. We just need to learn from our losses and if we do that, we’ll be fine.”
The Lady Flames are scheduled to battle West Georgia at 2 p.m. on Wednesday in a Gulf South Conference matchup before joining the Flames in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday for a pair of matches against Belmont-Abbey College and Carson-Newman University.