MOBILE, Ala. — The Ave Maria Men's Tennis team dropped their second match in the SSAC/SUN/AAC Tri-Conference Challenge, falling to the Tennessee Southern Fire Hawks 4-2. The Gyrenes tried to comeback after losing the doubles point like they did on Thursday but only managed two wins in the singles round.

The match was initially set to start at 9:30 in the morning but had to be pushed back to the afternoon due to rain in the Mobile area.

Once the match started, Juan Garcia and Nolan Smith had the best doubles round set for the Gyrenes, playing their pair to a 4-4 tie. Unfortunately, the other two doubles matches were decided by then in favor of the Fire Hawks, meaning Ave Maria would have to play from behind again.

Anderson Duggan got the singles round started off right, winning his pairing 6-0, 7-6 (6). Duggan was the first to finish, tying the dual match at one.

Tennessee Southern added a point to their total winning the No. 2 pairing. The Gyrenes quickly evened it up with Joao Felipe Almeida winning the No. 5 pairing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Almeida was forced to go a third set after dropping the second but came out on top to even the match back up at two.

Tennessee Southern won the next two pairings to clinch the match, taking both in two sets.

In the No. 6 pairing, Gianmarco was putting up fight, forcing a third set after dropping the first frame, but the pairing was called due to the Fire Hawks clinching the match.

With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 1-1 to start the 2025 season. The Gyrenes have one more match in the Tri-Conference Tournament, taking No. 3 Middle Georgia. The Gyrenes have already taken down one ranked team while in Alabama and they are looking to do that again against the Knights.