ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum College men's tennis team will be the third seed in next week's Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament announced league officials Thursday.

The Pioneers (14-4) will face No. 6 seed Brevard College (7-11) in a quarterfinal match next Thursday (April 22) at 1 p.m. at the Rock Hill Tennis Center in Rock Hill, S.C. Tusculum defeated the Tornados 5-4 on March 27th in Greeneville in their only match-up this year.

The winner of that match will advance to the semifinal round and face No. 2 Wingate University as the top two seeds received opening round byes. Top-seeded and 2010 SAC Champion Lincoln Memorial University also earn a bye and will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between No. 5 Carson-Newman College and fourth-seeded Mars Hill College.

Carson-Newman, Mars Hill and Brevard finished tied for fourth in the final conference standings. The three schools split with each other and each lost to the top three seeds and beat the bottom three teams in the conference. The next tiebreaker was match scores in head-to-head play. Mars Hill beat Carson-Newman 6-3, but lost to Brevard 4-5 for a 10-8 match record and earned the fourth seed. Carson-Newman earned the fifth seed by virtue of its 5-4 victory over Brevard in head-to-head competition.

The Tusculum/Brevard contest will be a rematch of last year's Food Lion SAC Tournament quarterfinal as the Pioneers rallied with a 5-4 win. TC upset top-seeded Wingate, 5-4 in last year's semifinal, before falling to Mars Hill, 5-1 in the tournament championship.

The semifinal round and championship match will be played on Friday at 1p.m. and Saturday at noon, respectively at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

The Food Lion SAC Tournament champion will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Tournament.

The Pioneers are in quest of their third Food Lion SAC Tournament Championship. Tusculum won its first SAC Tournament title in 2002 and captured its latest championship in 2008.

- SAC -

2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament
Rock Hill Tennis Center, Rock Hill, S.C.
Quarterfinals
Thursday, April 22, 2010
No. 3 Tusculum vs. No. 6 Brevard, 1 p.m.
No. 4 Mars Hill vs. No. 5 Carson-Newman, 1 p.m.

Semifinals
Friday, April 23, 2010
No. 1 Lincoln Memorial vs. Mars Hill/Carson-Newman winner, 1 p.m.
No. 2 Wingate vs. Tusculum/Brevard winner, 1 p.m.

Championship
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Semifinal winners, Noon