BOCA RATON, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's tennis team faced one of the top NCAA Division II teams in the nation Friday afternoon, heading across Alligator Alley for a meeting with Lynn University, who entered the match ranked 20th in the nation. The Gyrenes grabbed a point with a win at the top singles position, but couldn't pull any other upsets in a 6-1 loss to the Fighting Knights.

Lynn won all three doubles matches to earn the opening point, although the Gyrenes were at least somewhat competitive in each match. Ave Maria earned at least two points in each of the doubles matches, with the closest match coming at the third flight. In that match, Lynn's Brodie Young Smith and Haktan Garayev earned a 6-4 victory over the Ave Maria team of Joao Felipe Almeida and Tom Alias.

Gaston Erhardt was Ave Maria's top singles player, earning a win at the top singles flight. Erhardt won a 6-4 decision in the first set against Lynn's Jonathan Olive-Blanco, before the Knight battled back for a 7-6 win in the second set. Erhardt had an advantage in the third set with a 3-2 lead, but was awarded the win when his Lynn opponent retired.

The second closest match came at the fourth flight, where AMU's Pedro Garcia and Lynn's Haktan Garayev also went to a third set. After a 6-2 win in the first set by Garayev, Garcia battled back for a 6-2 win of his own in the second set. Garcia couldn't finish off the comeback, though, falling 7-3 in the tiebreaker set. The remaining four singles matches all ended in straight sets, with Lynn players winning all four.

After starting the season on the road, Ave Maria will finally a play a match on the AMU courts this coming Tuesday. The Gyrenes will welcome the Sailfish of Palm Beach Atlantic University, the first of two meetings between the schools this season. Tuesday's match will also end a run of NCAA Division II opponents for the Gyrenes, and will be AMU's lone home match in the month of February. Opening serve is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the AMU Tennis Complex.