GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The No. 20 Francis Marion women's tennis team swept all three doubles points en route to an 8-1 win over host Tusculum College Saturday afternoon at the Nichols Tennis Complex.

The Patriots improve to 5-0 on the season, while the Pioneers (3-1) suffer its first loss of the year.

FMU's Maria Covell and Kamin Murugaboopathy won a thrilling 9-8 (7-5) decision over Tusculum's No. 1 doubles pair of Danae Valderrama and Samantha Cantu.

Sarka Vitkova, Murugaboopathy, Magda Jezovicova, Elizabeth Lee and Covell each posted singles wins, while Tusculum's Heidi von der Lage won her No. 6 singles match with Mary Beth Belk 6-1, 6-0.

Tusculum will be at Lander University on Thursday for a 3 p.m. contest.