NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - Belmont University men's tennis defeated Tennessee Tech, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at Belmont Tennis Complex to secure the OVC regular season championship.
The Bruins have now won four OVC regular season championships (2014, 2018, 2019, 2022) and earn the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament.
The final score belied an epic, highly-competitive match, reminiscent of the meeting between the two conference stalwarts in last year's dramatic OVC Tournament final.
And as was the case that afternoon - which sent Belmont to the NCAA Tournament at Ole Miss - the Bruins claimed just enough of the momentum and high-stakes points.
Both sides had opportunities to take the all-important doubles point.
But Belmont got immense performances at No. 2 doubles from Arthur Toledo and Jack Randall and No. 3 doubles from Taisei Miyamoto and Alfred Wallin to win two hard-fought tiebreaks.
From there, Wallin secured yet another impressive straight-sets win, this time at No. 4 singles.
Tomas Luis rallied from a set down to win at No. 2 singles and put Belmont one point away from the match.
In his final home match, Miyamoto in fitting style secured the match victory with a trademark, courageous three-set triumph at No. 6 singles.
Ian Cruz closed the scoring, winning 7-5 in the third set at No. 3 singles.
Belmont will face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed match in Saturday's OVC semifinal.
First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Wesselman Tennis Center in Evansville, Indiana.
