GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University will begin defense of its South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Championship when the Pioneers play Lenoir-Rhyne University in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, April 21 at Sumter, South Carolina.
The Pioneers finished in a three-way tie for third place in the SAC standings with Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne at 9-3, but are seeded fifth in the tournament bracket. Tusculum went 12-7 during the regular season and is 32nd in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II rankings.
Last season, the Pioneers won their first SAC Tournament championship since 2008, beating Lincoln Memorial (4-0), Queens (4-3) and Anderson (4-1) after entering the tournament as the third seed. Tusculum would earn the SAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament before finishing the season at 17-4 overall and ranked 24th in Division II.
Lenoir-Rhyne was also seeded fourth in last year's tournament, and its share of third place this year marks the third straight season the Bears have been in the top four of the league, after not having finished any higher than seventh in any of the previous 15 seasons.
Thursday's quarterfinal meeting will be the second all-time postseason match between the Pioneers and the Bears. Tusculum beat Lenoir-Rhyne 5-0 in the 2008 quarterfinals en route to the league championship.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Senior Frank Bonacia (Rome, Italy) finished with a 9-7 dual match record and was 7-5 in SAC competition during the spring. Bonacia, who was nationally ranked in singles for much of the spring, went 6-5 at flight one and 3-2 at flight two for the Pioneers.
Sophomore Nemanja Subanovic (Subotica, Serbia) turned in an 8-6 record in dual matches and had a 4-4 mark in SAC contest, with a 4-2 record at flight two for the Pioneers. Subanovic won his final regular-season match in a tiebreaker after dropping two three-set matches to ranked opponents near the end of March.
Senior Kenta Kondou (Saitama, Japan) went 9-2 at flight three for the Pioneers and was 9-3 in SAC matches, while finishing the season with a team-high 13 victories in dual matches. Kondou won five of his final six singles matches, all in straight sets.
At flight four, freshman Robin Eldin (Bois-le-Roi, France) has compiled a 12-5 overall record and is 9-2 in conference matches, with a 6-3 mark at flight four for the Pioneers. Just like Kondou, Eldin has won five of his last six matches in straight sets.
Freshman Nathan Matsuguma (Tokyo, Japan) finished the regular season with six straight victories to improve his season record to 9-5 overall in dual matches and 7-2 in conference play. Matsuguma lost his first five three-set matches but rebounded to win two in a row as part of his six-match win streak.
Freshman Marco Jalalian (Hannover, Germany) has been the most-frequent player at flight six for the Pioneers, going 4-4 as part of his 6-4 overall record during the season. Jalalian, who was 5-3 in conference competition, is 3-1 in three-set matches with all three of his wins in tiebreakers.
Tusculum has used 12 different doubles pairings in its 12 conference matches, with Subanovic and senior Vadzim Raitsou (Mogilev, Belarus) the most-frequently used team at flight one with a 3-3 record. Bonacia and Kondou are 5-2 at flight two and 4-1 at flight three, with Eldin and freshman Miles Ray (Cheltenham, England) going 2-1 at flight three midway through the season.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Lenoir-Rhyne (13-7, 9-3 SAC) is 28th in the latest ITA Division II rankings and enters the SAC Tournament coming off a 5-2 loss to Queens last Wednesday. The Bears opened the season 7-0 in conference play but dropped back-to-back decisions to Wingate (6-1) and Anderson (4-3).
Senior Rhodri Atkinson is ranked 39th in Division II in singles and is 14-4 overall with a 9-3 record in SAC competition, all at flight one. Senior Josh Lazenby played at flight two and had an 8-4 conference record, while senior Lewis Scott was 11-1 at flight three and has won four straight matches.
At flight four, sophomore Joel Hemmings had a 6-6 record and was 4-6 in conference play, while sophomore Patrik Alvestrand (6-5), senior Mauricio Hernandez (8-2) and freshman Zachary Cox (7-3) rotated among the final two flights in singles.
The Bears were set in doubles play, with Atkinson and Lazenby going 16-3 at flight one, Hemmings and Hernandez turning in a 10-8 record at flight two, and Scott and Alvestrand combining for an 11-5 record at flight three.
SERIES HISTORY
Tusculum has a 13-2 edge in the all-time series with Lenoir-Rhyne, winning the first 12 meetings before the Bears earned a 4-3 win during the 2019 season. The Pioneers beat the Bears 6-1 on the road last season, but Lenoir-Rhyne returned the favor with a 6-1 win at the Nichols Tennis Complex on April 4.
SAC TOURNAMENT
The 2022 South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Championship will be played at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C. beginning with quarterfinals on Thursday, followed by semifinals on Friday and finals on Saturday. All matches will start at 9 a.m.
The Conference Championship schedule is as follows:
Thursday, April 21 (quarterfinals)
Match 1: #8 Limestone vs. #1 Queens
Match 2: #5 Tusculum vs. #4 Lenoir-Rhyne
Match 3: #7 Lincoln Memorial vs. #2 Anderson
Match 4: #6 Carson-Newman vs. #3 Wingate
Friday, April 22 (semifinals)
Match 5: Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2
Match 6: Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4
Saturday, April 23 (finals)
Match 7: Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6
