GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's tennis team earned its eighth straight victory on Monday as the 30th-ranked Pioneers defeated Newberry College 5-2 in South Atlantic Conference action at the Nichols Tennis Complex.

The Pioneers (13-4, 9-0 SAC) won five of the six singles matches to set up a first-place showdown with Wingate on Tuesday. Tusculum and Wingate are the two remaining undefeated teams in SAC play, and the Bulldogs will bring a nine-match win streak into Tuesday's match.

The Wolves (7-10, 4-6 SAC) took the doubles point, but fell in straight sets in each of their five singles losses to drop into a tie for the eighth and final postseason spot in the upcoming SAC Championship tournament with two matches remaining.

Tusculum went up in doubles as Rhodri Atkinson and Frank Bonacia shut out Joshua Fritz and Lucas Mruk 6-0 at flight three, but Newberry earned wins at flights one and two, the latter in a tiebreaker, to go up 1-0 in the match.

In singles, Nathan Matsuguma swept Enzo Blavignat 6-0, 6-0 at flight six to tie the match at 1-1. At flight two, Nemanja Subanovic trailed 5-6 in the second set, then won 11 straight points to come away with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) win over Marcel Schomburg for a 2-1 Tusculum lead. Bonacia gave the Pioneers a 3-1 lead as he defeated Fritz 6-4, 6-2 at flight four.

Newberry cut the margin to 3-2 with a win at flight one, but Ivan Ivars clinched the victory for the Pioneers as he won 6-3, 6-1 over Lawrence Friedland at flight five. Kenta Kondou closed out the win as he defeated Laurenz Grabia 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 at flight three.

Wingate enters Tuesday's match ranked 23rd in Division II with a 13-2 overall record and an 8-0 mark in SAC play. The teams were originally scheduled to meet on Friday, but the contest was postponed due to rain. First serve will be Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Nichols Tennis Complex.