Tusculum College edged Coker College 5-4 Thursday afternoon in the semifinals of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

The second-seeded Pioneers (18-4) will play top-seeded Wingate at 12 noon on Friday for the conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Tusculum is making its first appearance in the title match since 2009 and is looking for its third SAC Tournament championship.

In a back-and-forth match, the Pioneers and the 33rd-ranked Cobras (11-8) battled all the way to the third set of the final match, where Tusculum's Nicolas Planchard rallied after dropping the opening set for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Coker's Tom Sizeland at flight two of singles.

Two-time reigning SAC Player of the Year Lukas Winkelmann improved his record to 22-0 for the Pioneers and beat nationally-ranked Andre Staab for the second time in a week, with a 6-4, 7-5 victory at flight one of singles to tie the match at 3-3.

After Coker's Martin Moncayo beat Leon Seiz 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 at flight five to push the Cobras back on top 4-3, the Pioneers' Joseph Elphingstone came through with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Zach Grooms at flight six to knot the score at 4-4 and set up Planchard to bring home the decisive point.

Tusculum opened the match by winning the first two points of doubles. Elphingstone and David Siegle teamed up for an 8-3 win over Sizeland and William Marrafao at flight two, while Planchard and Seiz defeated Moncayo and Grooms 8-4 at flight two.

At flight one, the Tusculum team of Lukas and Jonas Winkelmann was defeated 8-4 by Staab and James Corfield to send the Pioneers to singles play with a 2-1 lead.

Corfield was the first player to finish in doubles as he knotted the match with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Siegle at flight four. Marrafao gave the Cobras a 3-2 lead with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Jonas Winkelmann at flight three, setting up a see-saw finish between the teams.

Wingate advanced to the finals with a 5-1 win over Queens in the other semifinal match on Thursday. The Bulldogs edged the Pioneers 5-4 in the teams' regular-season meeting in Greeneville on April 8, marking the third straight time that the teams played a 5-4 match.

Last year, the Bulldogs beat the Pioneers 5-4 in the semifinals to advance to the championship match, where they were defeated by Lincoln Memorial.