SUMTER, S.C. --- Wingate University erased a 2-0 deficit and defeated Tusculum University 4-2 in the finals of the South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Championship Saturday at the Palmetto Tennis Center.

The top-seeded Bulldogs (20-2), ranked 14th in Division II and sixth in the Southeast Region, earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament by winning the final four singles matches in straight sets against the second-seeded Pioneers (17-6), who are ranked 26th nationally and ninth in the region.

The Pioneers pulled out the rain-delayed doubles point by winning the final two sets, after Luka Brown and Hugo Nossler beat Kenta Kondou and Nathan Matsuguma 6-2 at flight two. At flight one, Nemanja Subanovic and Marco Jalalian came back from a 5-2 deficit to earn a 7-5 win over Gabriel Constantino and Edis Nokic. At flight three, Rhodri Atkinson and Frank Bonacia came away with a 7-6 (7-5) victory over Florian Walcher and Federico Spinetta to put Tusculum up 1-0 in the match.

Tusculum would go ahead 2-0 as Kondou beat Nokic 6-2, 6-3 at flight three, but Wingate would start its comeback at flight six as Jonas Grasmueck downed Matsuguma 6-0, 6-2. The Bulldogs tied the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory by Constantino over Atkinson at flight two, and went up 3-2 as Walcher defeated Subanovic 7-5, 6-1 at flight one. Nossler earned the clinching point for Wingate with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Bonacia at flight four.

The SAC tournament championship was the first for Wingate since 2019, and its sixth in program history. Tusculum, which was seeking its second title in three years, will await an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the selections are announced on Monday, April 24 at 8 p.m. on ncaa.com.