GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's tennis team earned a pair of victories on Sunday, earning a thrilling 4-3 win over West Virginia Wesleyan before shutting out Johnson C. Smith by a 7-0 score later in the afternoon.
The Pioneers (3-1) will open their South Atlantic Conference schedule Saturday, Feb. 15 at Newberry beginning at 2 p.m.
Tusculum 4, West Virginia Wesleyan 3
The outcome of the match came down to a 10-point tiebreaker at flight two between the Pioneers' Tomas Guedes de Almeida and Harry Simaioforidis of West Virginia Wesleyan, after Almeida lost the first set 4-6 but won set two by a 6-3 score. In the tiebreaker, Almeida won the final two points to earn an 11-9 victory and secure the win for the Pioneers.
Tusculum trailed 1-0 after doubles as the team of David Akinpetide and Leon Huck claimed a 7-5 win at flight two over Anthony McIntosh and Taylor Papworth, but the Bobcats (0-1) won the other two flights to earn the team point.
The Pioneers went up 3-2 in singles as Frank Bonacia beat Alexander Lyudinovskiy 6-2, 6-4 at flight three, Huck defeated Thomas McIntosh 6-2, 6-2 at flight five and Vadzim Raitsou won 6-2, 6-4 at flight six over Anthony McIntosh. Lukas Laipold beat Akinpetide in a tiebreaker 2-6, 7-5, (11-9) to level the match at 3-3, before Almeida was able to claim the win for Tusculum.
Tusculum 7, Johnson C. Smith 0
The Pioneers won all five singles matches in straight sets, losing a total of 10 games among the five matches. At flight one, Milan Jankovic beat Desire Johnson 6-3, 6-2 while Gabriel Yaguar downed Kohn Richardson 6-2, 6-1 at flight two. Tusculum earned a pair of 6-0, 6-0 wins, as Marco Meon beat Marlowe Anderson at flight three and Tom Dillon defeated Tayvon Lassiter at flight four. At flight five, Rafael Sarasola beat Cameron Hyman 6-1, 6-1 while flight six was not played due to the Golden Bulls (0-3) not having enough players to complete their lineup.
In doubles, Jankovic and Dillon beat Johnson and Richardson 6-3, and Meon teamed with Sarasola for a 6-2 win at flight two over Anderson and Lassiter.
