WISE, Va. --- The Tusculum men's tennis team opened its 2017-18 season with an 8-1 victory at UVa-Wise Saturday afternoon.
The Pioneers (1-0) swept all three doubles matches by identical 8-0 scores, and won the first five singles matches to claim the victory over the Cavaliers (0-1).
In doubles, Tashique Kader teamed with Gabriel Yaguar to defeat Andrii Rutnytskyi and Viktor Tunnikov at flight one, Marco Meon and Jorge Cervantes swept Chris Armistead and Ethan Herron at flight two, and Gaston Aguilera teamed with Steven Knowles for the victory against Coleton Burke and John Hamilton at flight three.
In singles, Cervantes beat Tunnikov 6-0, 6-0 at flight two to give the Pioneers a 4-0 lead, and Meon delivered the clinching point with a 6-0, 6-1 win at flight one over Rutnytskyi. At flight three, Yaguar beat Armistead 6-4, 6-1, while Aguilera downed Herron 6-3, 6-3 at flight four. The Pioneers' final win came at flight five as Knowles beat Burke by a 6-1, 6-0 score.
The Pioneers will return to action on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Emmanuel before playing their lone home match of the fall on Monday, Sept. 25 against King.
