The Lee University tennis teams recorded a pair of non-conference wins against Carson-Newman University Tuesday afternoon at the DeVos Tennis Center. The Flames blitzed past the Eagles 6-1, while the Lady Flames were 4-3 winners.
The Flames (4-0) grabbed an early advantage when Wihan van der Merwe and Stefan Mos beat Leonard Baecker and Matthew Saunders 6-2 at No. 3 doubles. Quinn Groenendijk and Jip Langerhuizen secured the doubles point with a 6-2 win over Marnix Van Dalen and Paul Gayk at No.
1 doubles. The No. 2 doubles match was left unfinished with Carson-Newman’s Louis Keenan and Gjorgji Jankulovski leading Filipe Krohn and Jackson Vaughan 5-3.
Groenendijk opened singles competition with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Jankulovski. Krohn dropped his opening set 6-3 to Gayk before recovering to win the next two sets 6-1 and 6-3 to win at No. 3 singles.
Lee clinched the team victory with a three-set win by van der Merwe at No. 1 singles. Van Dalen claimed the opening set 7-5 and van der Merwe forced a third set with a 6-0 margin, before finishing the comeback with a 6-2 score in the third set.
The Eagles (2-1) ended Lee’s shutout hopes with Saunders’ win at No. 5 singles. Saunders beat Mos 6-3 and 6-4 to collect the team point.
Langerhuizen and Rytis Razminas closed out the match with wins for the Flames to supply the final five-point win. Langerhuizen beat Keenan 6-1, 7-5 at the fourth position. Razminas was a 6-0, 6-1 winner at No. 6 singles against Baecker.
The Lady Flames (4-0) grabbed an early advantage when Maria Penalver Aguilo and Kanna Kobayakawa beat Leah McBride and Sindija Manovska 6-3 at No. 2 doubles. Ashleigh Simes and Aliyah Dwyer secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win over Kira Baacke and Edisa Hot at No. 1 singles.
The No. 3 doubles match was left unfinished with Vitoria Maximiliano and Mirjana Ragastovac trailing Maria del Mar Sarda and Emma Sanchez Jimenez 5-2.
Penalver Aguilo took down Sanchez Jimenez 7-5, 6-3 to open singles competition and put Lee up 2-0. Simes, ranked No. 2, won her first set 6-3 before Hot forced a third set with a 6-1 margin in the second set. Simes held off Hot 6-4 to win at No. 1 singles and put the Lady Flames within one of the team win.
Dwyer dropped just two games to Baacke in their No. 4 singles match. Dwyer won 6-2, 6-0 to claim the team’s fourth point and clinch the victory.
The Eagles (2-2) made the team score closer with wins in the final three singles matches. Hala Awad won the first and third sets by matching 7-5 scores to hold off Ragastovac at No. 3 singles. Ragastovac was a 6-4 winner in the second set.
Kobayakawa fell in straight sets to del Mar Sarda at No. 5 singles 6-3 and 7-6 (7-1). McBride supplied the final score with a 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Maximiliano.
The Flames and Lady Flames are scheduled to travel to Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday to open Gulf South Conference play against Christian Brothers University.