Lakeland, Fla. – The Lynn University men's tennis team played in their first tournament of the season, the South ITA Regional Championship.

INSIDE THE TOURNAMENT:
Event: Division II Men's and Women's South ITA Regional Championships
Host: Florida Southern College
Location: Warden Tennis Center | Lakeland, Fla.
Tournament Dates: Sept. 24-27
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SINGLES DRAW:
First Round

• Two of the five Fighting Knights competing advanced past the first round and into the second.
• Ignacio Gonzalez Martinez earned the Fighting Knights' biggest win of the first round when he took down Saint Leo's fourth-seeded Nicolas Bacella in straight sets (7-6, 6-4).
• Lucca Baptista also defeated a seeded opponent, winning in straight sets (6-3, 6-3) over Illari Vesanen from the University of West Alabama.
• Rayane Alami pushed Denis Golubev to the brink, playing him into a tiebreaker before ultimately falling (6-7, 6-2, 10-5). Golubev advanced to the final of the event.
• Will Kirkman fell in straight sets to West Florida's Tomas Descarrega, who was seeded in the tournament.
• Diego Gonzalez was defeated by West Alabama's Nutti Jokinen. Jokinen advanced to the Round of 16 before being eliminated.

Second Round

• Both Martinez and Baptista defeated their second-round opponents to advance to the Round of 16. 
• Baptista was a straight-set winner over Mikkel Baumann of Rollins College (6-4, 6-4).
• Martinez saw a much tougher test against Jorge Santamaria from Palm Beach Atlantic. After dropping the first set 6-1, Martinez fought back to win the next 6-4. In the tiebreaker, Martinez defeated Santamaria 10-8.

Round of 16

• Martinez and Baptista were forced to square off against each other, with Baptista coming away as the straight-set victor (6-1, 6-4).

Quarterfinals

• Baptista battled against Embry-Riddle's Alex Guedy, but was ultimately defeated 6-4, 6-3.

DOUBLES DRAW:
First Round

• The Fighting Knights had two teams competing in the doubles tournament.
• The pairing of Baptista and Gonzalez took down Eckerd College's duo of Lassalle and Patel 8-4 to advance to the second round.
• Martinez and Kirkman played an incredibly tight back and forth match against Valdosta State's duo of Mack and Carvalho, but ultimately fell 8-7. Mack and Carvalho advanced to the championship of the tournament.

Second Round

• Baptista and Gonzalez fought hard against Bedwan and Reime of Auburn University at Montgomery, but they ultimately were defeated 8-6. Bedwan and Reime advanced to take on Mack and Carvalho in the final, which means that both of Lynn's doubles' teams lost to the pairings playing in the championship match.

UP NEXT:
This was the only tournament on the Fighting Knights' schedule for the fall. They will play their championship season in the spring.