LEXINGTON, Ky. --- The Tusculum University men's tennis team opened its spring season with a 5-2 loss to 12th-ranked University of Indianapolis Sunday afternoon.
The Pioneers (1-1) lost two of the three doubles matches to the Greyhounds (2-0), and won two singles contests despite missing two starters from the lineup.
In doubles, the team of Gabriel Yaguar and Jacco Mensinga earned a 6-3 win over Jason Gerweck and Nikolaj Talimaa at flight three. At flight one, the Pioneer duo of Frank Bonacia and Manuel Guedes de Almeida went up against the top-ranked team in Division II of Dario Huber and Renato Lima, with the Greyhounds coming away with a 6-3 victory.
Almeida earned a win at flight three in singles for the Pioneers, beating Cristian Morales 11-9 in a tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets by scores of 6-3 and 4-6. Leon Huck also claimed a win for the Pioneers at flight four, as UIndy's Tom Zeuch retired while leading 7-6, 3-4. Huber, ranked eighth by the ITA, and 12th-ranked Lima each earned straight-set wins in the top two flights for the Greyhounds.
The Pioneers will play their first home matches of the spring on Sunday, Feb. 9 against West Virginia Wesleyan at 10 a.m. and Johnson C. Smith at 2 p.m. at the Nichols Tennis Complex.