HARROGATE, Tenn. – Visiting Lee University men's tennis took the all-important doubles point and escaped with a 4-3 win at Lincoln Memorial University Thursday evening inside the Indoor Tennis Facility in Harrogate. The Flames survived three match points at third doubles and came back for a 7-6 win, claiming the tiebreak, 8-6.
 
After the duo of senior Jake Tuchmann and sophomore Fabian Sjokvist forced No. 3 doubles into the decisive match of the doubles point with a 6-4 victory at No. 2 doubles, Lee's Nico Ramirez and Drew Johnston narrowly edged senior Xavier Marti and freshman Nic Goslar.
 
The two teams then split the singles matches as the Railsplitters dropped their sixth-straight dual, falling to 1-7 on the year. The Flames, who are members of the Gulf South Conference, raised their record to 3-3 with the win. It marked the fourth time this season LMU lost a doubles point in a deciding tiebreak and the third time the Railsplitters have suffered a setback by a single match.
 
"The 4-3 bug keeps biting us and it seems to look the same," said coach Marc Walters. "We played well early in the deciding doubles but fell into a soft and passive mode late and let them back into the match. We held match points but made a couple of mental errors and Lee's players made some clutch shots. It simply just got away from us."
 
Still, even with the result, Walters saw improvements and more life in his charges than the past few times out.
 
"Jake Tuchmann and Xavier Marti continue be solid for us and Sebastian Colla stepped it up today as well," commented Walters on the Railsplitters who all won singles matches against the Flames. "Iker Moure, Fabian Sjokvist and Nic Goslar all competed much better today as well. We are going to need that effort if we want to turn things around and get some results."
 
At No. 3 and No. 6 singles, Marti and Tuchmann were both dominant, each earning 6-1, 6-2 triumphs. Sophomore Sebastian Colla won LMU's third point of the day when he topped Lee's Bruno Medeiros 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
 
Up Next…
The Railsplitters hit the road for a Sunday afternoon tilt in the Peach State, facing Augusta University in a 12 p.m. match Sunday at the Newman Tennis Center.
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter tennis throughout the 2019-2020 season.