GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Tusculum University won its 10th consecutive men’s tennis match Friday afternoon with a 5-2 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne University in a South Atlantic Conference matchup of nationally-ranked teams at the Nichols Tennis Complex.
The 30th-ranked Pioneers (13-3, 6-0 SAC) used a tiebreaker victory to claim the doubles point, then won the first two singles matches before closing out the win over the 29th-ranked Bears (9-3, 6-2 SAC).
In doubles, Tusculum lost the first match at flight three but came back as Anton Krondell and Will Gee beat Zachary Cox and Mattias Selde 6-4 at flight two, followed by a 7-6 (7-5) win for Nemanja Subanovic and Miles Ray at flight one over Vadym Rogynskyi and Rufus Plane.
In singles, Yuki Ikeda claimed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Connor Dooley at flight six and Krondell beat Nevio Dux 6-2, 7-5 at flight two to give the Pioneers a 3-0 lead in the match. Lenoir-Rhyne used a three-set win at flight four to get on the board, but Rens Verhaar collected a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) win over Raphael Champaud at flight five to lock up the win for Tusculum. Subanovic added a 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-3 win at flight one over Cox for the Pioneers.
Tusculum continues to share first place in the SAC standings with Wingate, and the Pioneers will be back on the court on Wednesday, April 3 against Mars Hill beginning at 3 p.m. at the Nichols Tennis Complex. The Lions dropped to 1-10 overall and 1-6 in the SAC with a 6-1 loss at Catawba on Friday.
