JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College men's tennis team won two of three doubles matches, and notched four points in singles play to defeat arch-rival Carson-Newman College 6-3 in South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday afternoon at the Carson-Newman Tennis Complex.

Tusculum (11-2, 3-1 SAC) stayed within striking distance of first place in the conference standings, having won five of its last six matches, while Carson-Newman (5-5, 1-3 SAC) has lost four of its last five.

The duos of Steven Lin/Oliver Smith and Drew Kiser/Gui Carvalho gave the Pioneers an early 2-1 lead with hard fought wins of 8-4 and 8-5 in doubles action. Smith, Lin, and Carvalho also won their respective singles matches to each post a perfect 2-0 afternoon.

Luis Zamora won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, in the first solo matchup of the day; Smith notched an impressive come-from-behind win in his match, taking sets two and three by scores of 6-4 and 6-0 after dropping the first set 6-1. Lin recorded the deciding point for the Pioneers, winning his match in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. Carvalho notched the Pioneers' sixth point of the day with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 comeback win in the final singles match of the day.

Tusculum returns to the court on Saturday when the Pioneers host Brevard College to continue their SAC schedule. Play is set to begin at 1 p.m. at the Nichols Tennis Complex.

- TC -

Tusculum 6, Carson-Newman 3
Singles
1. Luis Zamora (TC) def. Rodolfo Schwarz (CN), 6-3,6-3
2. Trent Slagle (CN) def. Henrique Rodriguez (TC), 6-1,6-1
3. Oliver Smith (TC) def. Jack Harvie (CN), 1-6,6-4,6-0
4. Steven Lin (TC) def. Adriano Kira (CN), 6-2,7-6
5. Paul Birdsong (CN) def. Drew Kiser (TC), 4-6,6-3,10-6
6. Gui Carvalho (TC) def. Derek Holdway (CN), 6-3,3-6,10-6

Doubles
1. Schwarz/Slagle (CN) def. Rodriguez/Zamora (TC), 8-1
2. Lin/Smith (TC) def. Harvie/Birdsong (CN), 8-4
3. Kiser/Carvalho (TC) def. Kira/Chris Acker (CN), 8-5

Records: Carson-Newman 5-5 (1-3 SAC); Tusculum 11-2 (3-1 SAC)