April 12, 2023

by Dustin Semore, FHU Sports Information Director

MCKENZIE, Tenn. — With the Freed-Hardeman University Lions and the hosting Bethel (Tenn.) University Wildcats each claiming three wins in the singles flight of Tuesday, April 11th's duel match - it came down to the doubles point, where the Wildcats won the two necessary matches to earn the pivotal fourth point as the Lions fell in the regular season finale 4-3.

It was the duo of Theo Devals and Aleksa Pesic who started on the No. 1 court for FHU (5-9, 2-8 MSC) where they lost 6-3. Countrymen Merlin Bolema and Maxime Guyon also fell 6-3, while Caden Arnold and Nolan Laduree dropped their doubles match 6-2.

The singles run got off to a better start, where Arnold topped his Bethel (5-12, 3-7 MSC) opponent 6-2, 6-1. The top two courts did not fare as well, where Bolema lost 7-5, 6-2, before Pesic dropped his No. 2 court match 7-6, 6-2.

On the middle courts, Guyon earned a point for the Lions with a three-set battle of 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 while Laduree clinched a nailbiting win by splitting the first two sets to force a third set where a tiebreaker ended in Laduree's favor for a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) victory.

With the teams tied at three points apiece, the dual match came now to the No. 6 court where Devals fell 7-5, 6-3.

With the Freed-Hardeman University Lions and the hosting Bethel (Tenn.) University Wildcats each claiming three wins in the singles flight of Tuesday, April 11th's duel match - it came down to the doubles point, where the Wildcats won the two necessary matches to earn the pivotal fourth point as the Lions fell in the regular season finale 4-3.

With the regular season at their backs, the Lions will visit Bowling Green, Kentucky, where they will participate in the Mid-South Conference Championship April 20-23.