SALISBURY, N.C. --- Tusculum University concluded its 2023 regular season with a 7-0 sweep of Catawba College in South Atlantic Conference men's tennis action Thursday afternoon.
The 25th-ranked Pioneers (15-5, 11-1 SAC) assured themselves of no worse than a second-place finish in the SAC and left open the possibility of earning a share of the SAC championship pending results of weekend action. The Indians (6-13, 4-8 SAC) lost their third straight match and finished in ninth place in the SAC standings, which will leave them out of next week's SAC Championship tournament.
Wingate (10-0) is in first place in the SAC and will earn the top seed in the conference tournament with a victory in either of its final two matches, against UVA Wise on Saturday and against Anderson on Sunday. If the Bulldogs lose either of those contests, the Pioneers would secure a share of the SAC championship for the first time since 2016.
In Thursday's match with Catawba, the Pioneers swept doubles and won the first two singles matches in straight sets before Frank Bonacia finished off the clinching match with a three-set win. In doubles, Nemanja Subanovic and Marco Jalalian picked up a 6-2 win at flight one over Marcos Castares and Ryan Little, and Bonacia teamed with Rhodri Atkinson for a 6-3 victory at flight three over Taketoshi Nanao and Sebastian Zabala. At flight two, Kenta Kondou and Nathan Matsuguma were 6-4 winners over Tyler Juergens and Paul Dekester.
In singles, Atkinson beat Juergens 6-3, 6-1 at flight two and Matsuguma collected a 6-3, 6-0 win over Nanao at flight six to put the Pioneers ahead 3-0. Bonacia then came from a set down to earn a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory at flight four over Little to clinch the win for the Pioneers. In the other matches, Kondou beat Dekester 6-1, 6-0 at flight three, Subanovic won in a super tiebreaker over Castares at flight one by a 7-5, 1-6, (10-5) score, and Ivan Ivars finished off the sweep with a 9-7 pro set victory over Zabala at flight five.
Tusculum will play in a SAC Championship quarterfinal match on Thursday, April 20 at 2 p.m. at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina. The semifinals matches will be held Friday, April 21 with the championship match on Saturday, April 22.
