LEXINGTON, S.C. — The Longwood men's tennis team battled but fell to top-seeded Gardner-Webb in the championship match of the 2026 Big South tournament at the Lexington County Tennis Center on Saturday.
The Lancers' season ends a 13-6 overall, tying for its most wins since 2019.
Third-seeded Longwood opened the match by winning the doubles point. Daniel Lopez and Alejandro Uribe defeated Kaua Cressoni and Adam Patry, 6-3, on court three before Gardner-Webb's Graham Bourne and Johan Van Wijk topped Daniel Borisov and Timéo Puech by the same score on court one.
Marko Mrdak and Rufus Plane secured the point for the Lancers, winning, 6-4, over Alexandre Bergeron and Noah Zeiger at No. 2.
Gardner-Webb (18-5) won four of the five matches to finish in singles to claim its second straight Big South championship.
Bourne beat Petter Lindquist, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 to tie the dual, 1-1. Cressoni then got past Lopez, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 6 to give GWU the lead and the Runnin' Bulldogs extended the lead through Patry. He defeated Uribe, 6-1, 1-6, 6-0, at No. 6.
Borisov outlasted Zeiger, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, at No. 2 to cut the deficit to 3-2, but van Wijk rallied pasted Plane, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, to seal the match.
Puech led Bergeron in the third set on court one, 5-2, when the match was halted. He won the first set, 6-3, while Bergeron took the second by the same tally.
The Lancers finished the season with a .685 winning percentage in singles matches across all competitions, playing to a .557 mark in doubles on the year with 135 singles and 54 doubles victories, all told.
