PADUCAH, Ky. -- The Belmont men's tennis team upset top-seeded Tennessee Tech in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament held Saturday in Paducah, Kentucky. The Bruins now face #2 seed Austin Peay in Sunday's final.
The Bruins started off strong as they won the first point of the match by capturing two doubles matches. Fernando Mussolini and Navaro Veys won at number two over Artem Tarasov and Vasily Eremeev 8-5. Bruno Silva and Henrik Claesson clinched the doubles point as they defeated Alvaro Cintas and Othon Lima 8-5. The third match was unfinished.
In singles, Fernando Mussolini gave BU a 2-0 lead as he won at number three over Artem Tarasov 6-0, 6-2. Tennesse Tech tied the match at 2-2 as they picked up wins at number one and three. However, wins by Belmont at number six (Navarro Veys beat Othon Lima 8-5) and at number two (Henrique Norbiato beat Alejandro Augusto 7-6, 6-3) sealed the 4-2 victory for the fifth seeded Bruins.
Belmont (9-14) will play #2 seed Austin Peay in Sunday's championship match, which is set to begin at 2:00pm. It will be BU's first appearance in a conference tournament final since the 2006 A-Sun Championship. In that match, Belmont beat Stetson to win the A-Sun title and earn the program's only berth to the NCAA Tournament.
