HARROGATE, Tenn. – The LMU men's tennis team begins their quest for the SAC Tournament Championship Wednesday afternoon as they host Tusculum in a SAC Tournament Quarterfinal match at the LMU Tennis Complex. First serve is set for 3 p.m.
This will be the second consecutive season that the two team have met in the postseason, with last year's meeting also being in the tournament quarterfinals. LMU won 5-1. Prior to last season the two had not played each other in the postseason since the mid-1980s, when both were in the NAIA and were members of the Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference.
Since 1994-95, LMU is 17-4 against the Pioneers and in the
Benny Collins era TC holds a 6-5 lead coming into Wednesday's match.
The Railsplitters are 12-6 overall and 7-3 in the SAC. They are currently ranked 33
rd in the latest ITA Division II rankings. LMU is in the tournament for the second straight year and eighth time in the last ten years. They won it in 2010 and 2013 and were runners-up in 2012.
LMU's
Joshua Peress will play at #1 singles and has a 16-6 record this season. He is second on the LMU all-time singles wins list with 63 wins.
At the no. 2 flight is
Constantin Ernstberger. He leads the team in overall wins with 17 and is currently tied with
Xavier Marti for second most wins by a freshman. He trails the leader, Philipp Hoffmann (2010-13), by two. Marti is at no. 3 and has an 8-9 record.
David Segarra will play at no. 4 and enters the match with a 16-4 overall record. In the match at Mars Hill last week, he became the fourth player in LMU history to have 50 career singles wins. He is currently tied with Marcelo Alvim (2011-14) for third place in career wins, behind Peress.
Iker Tomas Moure will be in the no. 5 flight and has a 10-7 overall record.
Moritz Hoerner will play at no. 6 and is 9-6 on the year. Should they be needed,
Carlos Zunino (2-2) and
Jake Tuchmann (1-4) are the alternates.
In doubles, Tuchmann and Hoerner will play at no. 1 and have a 6-5 record. Segarra and Peress are one of LMU's best doubles pairings in many years and enter Wednesday's match at the no. 2 flight with a 17-4 record. Marti and Ernstberger will play at no. 3 and have an 8-3 record this season.
The Pioneers finished with a 5-5 conference record and 14-7 overall, and enter the week ranked just behind LMU at 34
th. They are making their seventh consecutive appearance in the tournament, and won it in 2002 and 2008.
TC's Jorge Cervantes has a 13-6 record, Gabriel Yaguar is 11-2 and Tomas Kmetko is 9-8. In doubles, Toby de Klerk and Yago Fernandez lead the team with an 11-6 record.
The winner will advance to the semifinals and finals, which will be played at the Cayce Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. April 20-21.
