SALISBURY, N.C. --- The Tusculum University women's tennis team won its seventh South Atlantic Conference championship with a 6-1 victory over Catawba College Thursday afternoon.
The 29th-ranked Pioneers (15-5, 11-1 SAC) pulled out the doubles point and then won the first three singles matches to lock up the victory over the 34th-ranked Indians (12-6, 8-4 SAC). Tusculum will enter the postseason with a streak of five consecutive victories, four of which have come against nationally-ranked opponents. Tusculum's previous SAC championships came in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010 and 2019.
Tusculum has earned the top seed for next week's SAC Championship tournament, which begins Thursday at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina. Tusculum can still win the outright league title if Wingate loses either of its two final regular-season matches, Saturday against UVA Wise or Sunday against Anderson. If Tusculum and Wingate finish tied for first at 11-1, the Pioneers will earn the top seed over the Bulldogs thanks to their 4-3 victory on Tuesday afternoon.
In doubles, the Indians went up with a victory at flight one, but Elodie Baechler and Valentina Loretz earned their 10th straight win as they beat Sofia Hernandez and Carolina Correia 6-4 at flight two. At flight three, Leonie Floeth and Ylva Frafjord Landa gave Tusculum the doubles point with a 6-4 win over Nika Dundovic and Tina Gomes.
The Pioneers went up 2-0 as Tabitha Howe earned a 6-0, 6-3 win over Miya Ami at flight two, and Tusculum moved ahead 3-0 behind a 6-0, 6-4 win from Landa over Veronika Poliakova at flight six. Paulina Loretz would clinch the win and the championship for Tusculum by closing out a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Vaishnavi Venkatesh at flight four.
In the remaining matches, Catawba won by retirement at flight three, but Valentina Loretz captured an 8-4 win over Correia at flight five and Floeth outlasted Matilde Moretti 6-4, 5-7, (10-5) at flight one to close the match.
Tusculum will play the eighth seed in the quarterfinal round of the SAC Championship tournament on Thursday, April 20 at 9 a.m. at the Palmetto Tennis Center. The Pioneers have won SAC Championship tournament titles in 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2017.
