ST. LOUIS – Lewis University's 52nd ranked men's tennis team fell to Southwest Baptist, 4-1 in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis.

The Flyers (14-8), seeded third in the East Division, won the first two doubles matches to win the opening point of the match. The number two doubles team of Oskar Lusti (Tallinn, Estonia/) and Pedja Trifunovic (Aleksandrovac, Serbia/) defeated Carlos Corser and Max Sanoja 6-2 while the tandem of Juan Martin Ramirez Mejia (Medellin, Colombia/) and David Ambrozic (Portoroz, Slovenia/) edged Alvaro Nunez and Youssef Nabil 7-5.

The Bearcats (11-11), seeded second in the West Division, rallied to win four singles matches to win the match. Sanoja opened the singles competition with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Andrej Zoranovic (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). Nunez followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Trifunovic in the fourth singles match. Corser knocked off Oliwer Wierzbicki (Szczecin, Poland) 6-2, 6-3 at number five singles and Nabil edged Ambrozic 7-6 (7-3), 7-3 to seal the victory.

Before the match Ramirez Mejia was one of 17 players recognized on the All-GLVC team. There were eight players selected from each division with an additional member added due to a tie in the voting.

Lusti was recognized as Lewis' honoree for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. This honor is bestowed upon student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school's two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced in May.

The Flyers will find out on Monday evening if they'll receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.