LEXINGTON, S.C. — Big South Player of the Year Timéo Puech dispatched Miguel Angel Machado in straight sets to lift the third-seeded Longwood men's tennis team to a 4-3 victory over No. 6 Bryant in the first round of the 2026 Big South Championship at Lexington County Tennis Complex on Thursday.

Puech beat Machado, the same player he defeated to win the Big South individual championship in the fall, 7-5, 6-4, on court one as Longwood completed a comeback victory. Longwood has now won six consecutive matches.

The Lancers (12-5) advance to face No. 2-seed NJIT Friday at 6 p.m., in the semifinals.

Longwood trailed, 3-1, needing singles victories from Alejandro Uribe at No. 6 and Rufus Plane on court three — both in straight sets — to pull even. 

Puech then got past Machado to send his team to the next round.

A pesky Bryant (4-16) squad took an early lead in the match, claiming the doubles point, in come-from-behind fashion. After Daniel Lopez and Uribe topped Forbes Hollingsworth and George Howard, 6-1, at No. 3, the Bulldogs took the next two matches. 

Will Pellegrini and Myles Peterson defeated Marko Mrdak and Rufus Plane, 6-2, at No. 2 before Daniel Baquero and Machado got the better of Daniel Borisov and Puech, 6-4, on court one to take the lead.

Lopez opened singles action with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Hollingsworth at No. 4 to knot the dual, 1-1. Bryant, however, responded with wins by Baquero versus Petter Lindquist at No. 5, 6-4, 6-0, and Pellegrini over Borisov on court two, 6-1, 6-4, to build its lead.

Uribe cut the deficit in half at 3-2 with a 6-0, 6-3 win against Peterson at No. 6 prior to Plane's 6-3, 6-3 victory versus Manveer Boparai on court five.

The win is the first in the Big South tournament for the Lancers since beating Liberty, 4-3, on April 16, 2018, in Rock Hill, S.C.