LOS ANGELES - The LMU men's tennis team came out on top in a tightly contested match with UC Irvine on Sunday afternoon at the LMU Tennis Center. 

 

Yassine Smiej played a memorable match on the No. 1 singles court. After dropping the first set, he came back to put up a bagel in the second set. In the third, Smiej battled back from being 3-4 down to leading 6-5. After his opponent forced a tiebreaker, Smiej put him away. The court ended up being the deciding court in the match. 

 

It started off with doubles, which the Lions won with wins on courts one and three. Arthuer Pantino and Sebastian Nothhaft took the first 6-4, with Smiej and Max Wuelfing combining for the 7-5 victory on court three. 

 

In addition to Smiej, Pantino and Toky Ravaivo also earned hard fought victories to clinch the win for LMU. 

 

Pantino won in straight sets with 7-5 and 6-2 wins on No. 3 singles.  

 

Ranaivo went the distance after he dropped the first set. He won the remaining sets 6-4 and 6-3 to set up Smiej's heroics. 

 

The Lions will be back in action on Thursday at San Diego State in a makeup of a date scheduled in January that was rained out.