LAKELAND, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's tennis team played their third conference match of the 2021 season on Monday, taking on the Southeastern University Fire at the Beerman Family Tennis Center in Lakeland. The Gyrenes won three of the day's nine matches, but fell to the Fire, who were receiving votes in the newest NAIA Coaches' Poll, 5-2. 

Ave Maria earned a victory in one of the three doubles matches, but Southeastern took the other two to claim the doubles point. AMU's win came at the number one position, thanks to a 6-1 victory by Nicholas Hofmeister and Luca Cirenza. However, SEU cruised to victory in the other two spots, as Enrique Martinez and Theo Preiswerk swept Alejandro Viedma and Carlos Thireau at number two, and the team of Santiago Haas and Felipe Barbosa defeated Guilherme Bento and Felipe Amorim, 6-2, at the number three position. 

In the top two singles positions, Ave Maria earned victories to get on the board in the match. Bento rallied from a 6-1 defeat in the first set of the top flight singles match, winning 6-0 in the second set to force a third set against SEU's Santiago Haas. In that set, Bento earned a tiebreaker win over Southeastern's top player, 7-6. At the number two spot, Nicholas Hofmeister continued his stellar play with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Enrique Martinez.

Southeastern, though, won the other four singles matches to clinch the overall victory. All four of those matches were decided in straight sets, with wins by Theo Preiswerk, Alexandre D'aboville, Felipe Barbosa, and Tyler Glowaki securing the victory. The clinching point was provided by Barbosa, thanks to his 7-5, 6-4 win over AMU's Felipe Amorim at the number five position.

AMU comes back home on Saturday for their first home conference match in two months, when the Gyrenes host the Mariners of Coastal Georgia. The Mariners come into the contest as the NAIA's No. 19 team in the nation. Opening serve between Ave Maria and Coastal Georgia is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the AMU Tennis Facility.