YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. --- A Saturday road trip through Georgia for the Tusculum University men's tennis team resulted in a 6-1 loss to the University of North Georgia in the morning, and a 5-0 victory over Young Harris College in the afternoon.
The Pioneers (2-1) did not lose a set in the win over the Mountain Lions (1-2), highlighted by a 6-0, 6-0 win at flight six by Kenta Kondou over Ethan Carter. Kondou also teamed with Jacco Mensinga in doubles for a 6-3 win over Alex Schiltz and Marcus Berninger.
Tusculum captured the doubles point as Leon Huck and Nemanja Subanovic beat Hermann Ronnberg and Rodrigo Mendoza 6-1 at flight one of doubles. Tusculum was leading the other doubles match when the point was clinched, as Frank Bonacia and Dmitry Bezborodov held a 4-3 lead over Romeo Luque and Eric DelValle at flight two.
In singles, Subanovic defeated Luque 6-1, 6-4 at flight three and Bonacia was a 6-2, 6-1 winner at flight four over DelValle. Tusculum also claimed one additional singles win as Bezborodov was a 6-4, 6-2 winner at flight one over Mendoza.
Earlier in the day, the 23rd-ranked Nighthawks (1-1) won five of six singles matches against the Pioneers for the victory. North Georgia clinched the doubles point with two victories, then went ahead 3-0 before Bonacia secured the lone win for the Pioneers with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at flight four over Guilio Sassi. At flight five, Marco Meon nearly snagged a second point for Tusculum but lost in a third-set tiebreaker 10-7 to Zach Waldow after splitting the first two sets in tiebreakers by scores of 6-7 (6-8) and 7-6 (7-4).
Tusculum will be back on the courts Sunday with a trip to Milligan to face the Buffaloes at 2 p.m.