Wingate University won the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament championship with a 5-3 victory over Tusculum College Friday afternoon at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

The top-seeded Bulldogs (18-7), ranked 34th nationally, captured their second tournament championship in the last three years, while denying the Pioneers (18-5) their first title since 2008.

For Tusculum, junior Lukas Winkelmann capped a perfect 23-0 season by beating Neal Towlson 6-2, 6-4 at number-one singles. Freshman Leon Seiz also had a victory in singles as he beat Ryan Forbes 6-4, 6-2 at flight five.

Wingate jumped out to a 2-1 lead in doubles, with the Pioneers' lone point coming from the team of Lukas and Jonas Winkelmann, who beat Towlson and Sebastian Hall by an 8-4 score to finish the season with a 19-2 record.

The Bulldogs went up 3-1 as Josh Eardley defeated Joseph Elphingstone 6-1, 6-0 at flight six, but Seiz came back with his 18th singles win of the year to cut the margin to 3-2.

Lukas Winkelmann's win over Towlson tied the score at 3-3, but Connor Kudrick brought Wingate within one point of the championship as he beat David Siegle 6-2, 7-6 at flight four. Hall then earned the clinching point as he beat Nicolas Planchard 6-4, 6-2 at flight two.