Tusculum, Mars Hill Advance To SAC Food Lion Men’s Tennis Championship

ROCK HILL, SC - The Tusculum College men's tennis team captured possibly its biggest win of the season Friday afternoon when the Pioneers won a grueling battle with Wingate University 5-4 in the semifinals of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

After sweeping doubles play, the no. 5 seed Pioneers needed to win two of the six singles matches to come away with victory. However, no. 1 seed Wingate who won the SAC regular season crown, didn't go down without a fight. In fact, the decision of who would advance to the tournament finals came down to the no. 5 singles match of which, TC's Steven Lin defeated Wingate's Matthew Lichtenstein 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 with the tiebreaker. Tusculum's other win in singles play came at no. 2 singles when the Pioneers' Thomas Rees knocked off the Bulldogs' Bruno Pudence 6-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Wingate's Mitchell Lvovsky took a narrow 1-6, 7-6, (7-4) win at no. 1 singles, while teammate Braeden Patchell won 6-4, 6-4 over Tusculum's Hunter Beal in no. 3 singles, as did the Bulldog's Andrew Owen when he defeated the Pioneer's Leo Guaycurus 6-4, 6-4. in the no. 4 singles match. No. 6 singles went a little quicker when Wingate's Flavio Rathsam knocked off TC's Drew Kiser in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.

As mentioned, doubles play was the key to the Pioneer's win and was dominated by Tusculum. The Pioneers Thomas Rees and Drew Kiser made quick work of Wingate's Braeden Patchell and Louis Vallarroel 8-2, while Leo Guaycurus and Henrique Rodrigues defeated Bruno Pudence and Flavio Rothsam 8-3 and Hunter Beal and Steven Lin disposed of Matthew Lichtenstein and Jose Valarezo 8-5.

The no. 5 seed Pioneers are now set to take on nearby rival and no. 3 seed Mars Hill College on Saturday in the Chamionship of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament. The Lions defeated no. 2 seed Newberry College 5-3 Friday morning to advance to Saturday's conference tournament finals at 9:00 a.m. at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

Mars Hill 5, Newberry 2

ROCK HILL, SC - The Lions of Mars Hill College eliminated Newberry College in the semifinals of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament Friday afternoon in Rock Hill, South Carolina. MHC rolled up a 5-2 win over Newberry en route to earning a berth in conference championship match to be played Saturday morning.

The Lions took the upper hand in doubles play, running the table in all three matches. MHC's Andre Schafer and Stevan Stankovic defeated Newberry's Jeremy Smith and Felipe Sobrinho 8-4 in no. 1 doubles, while Koche Smith and Tyrone La Reservee knocked off NC's Lucas Mattos and Maxim Sukharev 8-4 in no. 2 doubles and Alessardo du Besse and Ugras Taylan Batuk upended Pavle Popovic and Mark Boswell in the no. 3 doubles match 8-3.

In singles play, Mars Hill's Alessandro du Besse cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 victory in no. 1 singles over Newberry opponent Maxim Sukharev. Teammate Felipe Sobrinho was equally as impressive in no. 4 singles play by winning 6-2, 6-2 over Newberry's Andre Schafer. The Lions' final win of the day came in the no. 5 singles match when Tyrone La Reserve won in striaght sets over NC's Mark Boswell 6-1, 6-2 to give MHC the win.

Friday's no. 2 and no. 6 singles match went unfinished as Mars Hill's five victories had already earned their spot in the championship on Saturday.

The no. 3 seed Lions improve to 12-5 overall while no. 2 Newberry ends the year with an 8-8 record. Mars Hill will face no. 5 seed Tusculum on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the championship match. The Pioneers defeated no. 1 seed Wingate 5-4 in Friday's semifinals.