SAC Tennis Championship Semifinal Recaps

[MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP RECAPS]

No. 3 Wingate 5, No. 2 Tusculum 4

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Josh Eardley's straight-set win at No. 6 singles propelled No. 3 seed Wingate past second-seeded Tusculum, 5-4, in the semifinals of the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament Friday morning at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

The 42nd-ranked Bulldogs improved to 16-10 overall and advanced to Saturday's championship match versus Lincoln Memorial, which is slated to start at 9 a.m. Tusculum fell to 15-5 on the season, while having its win streak snapped at 12 matches.

Tusculum took a 2-1 lead following doubles' action, as first-team all-conference selection Jonas Winkelmann teamed up with SAC Player of the Year Lukas Winkelmann to defeat Wingate's Neal Towlson and Roberto Hennis, 9-7 at No. 1 doubles, while Paul Wiederspahn and Joseph Elphingstone edged the Bulldog tandem of Josh Eardley and Sebastian Hall, 8-6 at the No. 3 flight.

After Tusculum took a 3-0 edge on the strength of a 6-1, 6-1 win by SAC Freshman of the Year Nicolas Planchard at No. 2 singles, Sebastion Hall began the Wingate rally with a 6-4, 6-0 win past Jonas Winkelmann at No. 3 singles. Wingate's Ryan Forbes earned a 6-2, 6-3 win past John Taylor at the No. 5 flight and Kennedy Cancelado, a first-team all-conference honoree, posted a 6-4, 6-2 win for WU at the No. 1 spot.

The Pioneers evened the match at 4-4 when TC's Paul Wiederspahn defeated Roberto Hennis, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), but Eardley clinched the team win with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6.

No. 4 Lincoln Memorial 5, No. 1 Anderson 3

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Fourth-seeded Lincoln Memorial took an early 3-1 lead, then held off top-seeeded Anderson, 5-3, in the semifinals of the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament Friday morning at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

Lincoln Memorial improved to 13-5 on the season with its fourth consecutive victory and advanced to meet third-seeded Wingate in the championship tilt on Saturday at 9 a.m. Anderson slipped to 10-6 on the season and had its five-match win streak snapped.

The Railsplitters took a 2-1 lead following doubles action as Will Sparks and Marcelo Alvim defeated AU's Krystof Gulbinovic and Paul Calhoun, 8-3, at the No. 2 doubles' flight and Philipp Hoffman teamed with Alexey Minevskiy to get past the Trojans' Abdoulaye Camara and Jerome Branker, 8-3, at No. 1 doubles. AU's Daniel Gonzelez and Inaki Iriberry downed Gabriel Martins and Michael Koenan, 8-3, at the No. 3 doubles' slot.

The Railsplitters Hoffman downed AU's Abdoulaye Camara, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles to give LMU a 3-1 advantage, before Gulbinovic earned a 7-5, 6-1 win over LMU's Will Sparks. The Railslpitters Gabriel Martins rallied for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, win past Calhoun at No. 5 singles, but Anderson's Loic Ambroise posted a comeback win at No. 4, before Alvim clinched the team victory for Lincoln Memorial with a 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 win past Daniel Gonzalez at No. 3.

[WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP RECAPS]

No. 1 Wingate 5, No. 5 Newberry 1

Rock Hill, S.C. - The Wingate Women's Tennis Team (18-5) moved into the finals of the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament after downing fifth-seeded Newberry (14-11), 5-1, in the semifinal round Saturday morning at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

Wingate, the top seed in the tournament, will face third-seeded Anderson (13-5) in the championship match later on Saturday. The contest is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m.

Wingate held a 2-1 advantage at the end of doubles play when the match was halted on Friday due to severe weather and then proceeded to win three singles matches on Saturday morning to move into the championship.

At fifth singles, Wingate's Kelli Ferguson downed Newberry's Shannon McManus by scores of 6-2 and 6-3 to take the win.

Ferguson, Morgan Winston and Tiffany Williams all won at both singles and doubles play to lead the Bulldogs to the victory.

Wingate, winners of 11 straight matches, will also be looking to capture its third straight league tournament championship.

No. 3 Anderson 5, No. 2 Tusculum 2

ROCK HILL, S.C. – After an overnight delay due to inclement weather, the third-seeded Anderson Trojans rallied for a 5-2 win past second-seeded Tusculum in the semifinals of the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament Saturday morning at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

The women's semifinals were halted on Friday following doubles' action with Tusculum holding a 2-1 edge, but the Trojans rallied to win four consecutive singles' matches and move into the semifinals, where they will meet top-seeded Wingate at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Anderson improved to 13-5 overall with its fourth consecutive victory, while Tusculum (16-4), had its win streak halted at seven.

In Friday's doubles' action, the Tusculum duo of Emily Waters and Amanda Sumner earned a hard-fought 8-6 win past the Trojans' Alexandra Ebner and Marcela Gallegos at the No. 3 doubles' flight, while Kate Hutchinson and Adrienne Kaye claimed an 8-1 win at the No. 1 doubles' flight to give TC an early 2-0 lead. But AU's Lindsay Gregory and Camie Beaulieu-Brunet held off Tusculum's Taylor Patterson and Katie Hillis, 9-8, at the No. 2 slot to set the score at 2-1 heading into Saturday's singles' play.

Anderson's Lindsay Gregory sparked the rally by defeating Adrienne Kaye, 6-0, 6-2, at the No. 5 flight, while the Trojans' Avery Owens outlasted Kate Hutchinson, 6-2, 7-5, at No. 1 singles. At the No. 2 doubles flight, Karen Ching topped Taylor Patterson, 7-5, 6-1, while AU's Camie Beaulieu-Brunet clinched the match by rallying for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win past Erin Mills at No. 3.