
Tusculum College gave head coach Tommy Arnett his 300th combined
victory with the Pioneers by defeating Carson-Newman 7-2 in a South
Atlantic Conference men's tennis match Thursday afternoon at the
Nichols Tennis Complex.
Including the Pioneer Women's 6-3 victory over the Eagles later in
the day, Arnett has compiled a 301-109 record in 10 years as head
coach of the Tusculum men's and Women's tennis programs. Over that
span, the Pioneers have combined for eight SAC regular-season
titles, four SAC tournament championships and 13 NCAA Division II
tournament appearances. Ironically, Arnett achieved the milestone
against his alma mater, where he was a member of two
nationally-ranked tennis teams before graduating in 1972.
As for Thursday's match, the Pioneers (6-7, 2-2 SAC) snapped a
four-match losing streak by winning five of six singles matches
against the Eagles (3-9, 0-4 SAC).
Tusculum opened action by winning two of three doubles pro sets.
Oliver Smith and Steven Lin teamed for an 8-5 win over Adriano Kira
and Paul Birdsong at flight two, and Gui Carvalho and Drew Kiser
downed Derek Holdway and Dalton Moore 8-2 at flight three. Trent
Slagle and Matthew White gave Carson-Newman a point with an 8-3
victory over Tony Bujana and Luis Zamora at flight one.
In singles, Zamora gave the Pioneers a 3-1 lead with a 7-5, 6-3 win
at flight two over Dusty Davis. Holdway cut the Eagle deficit to
3-2 with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Smith at flight three, but
Bujana outlasted Slagle 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 at flight one for a 4-2
Tusculum lead.
Needing just one point in the final three singles matches, Lin
closed out the victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chris Acker at
flight four to clinch the win. Kiser followed with a 6-4, 6-2 win
at flight six over Birdsong, and Carvalho finished off the match
via tiebreaker, defeating Kira 13-11 at flight five after splitting
the first two sets 6-1, 4-6.
Tusculum opens a weekend homestand on Saturday against Lincoln
Memorial, beginning at 1 p.m.