EVANSVILLE, Ind. - - In a rematch from the end of the regular season, Tennessee Tech landed powerful attacks and occasionally lucky knocks off the net to best Belmont 4-1. The loss brought an end to the Bruins' 14-win campaign after they won their second regular season conference title.
The rematch was intense as anybody would expect when two giants of their conference go toe-to-toe.
In doubles, the Bruins fought through adversity after their all-conference duo Jack Randall and Arthur Toledo fell on court two. Next, court one killers Tomas Luis and Diego Castro cracked open quick side hits and blended their winning strategies together for a smooth 6-3 finish. Following the tie up, Belmont was saved by the pristine back line pushes and up close counters from Alfred Wallin and Taisei Miyamoto to win doubles 6-4.
From there, Tennessee Tech turned it around. Mixing off-balanced bouncers and lighting fast counters, the Golden Eagles earned point one on court five courtesy of Evzen Holis. After that, the Bruins' Toledo, Luis, and Ian Cruz fought hard and held leads in set two to try and tie it up.
But Tennessee Tech stood strong and turned it around late to take their last three wins on courts one, two, and three to claim the OVC tournament championship for the fifth time in the last six tournaments.
Three Bruins were sent off into the sunset by today's finish.
Toledo was a three-year Bruin who made it on two All-OVC teams in his career. The senior from Brazil originally joined Belmont after his freshman year at Cerritos College where he was an ITA California Community College Athletic Association All-American singles player.
Miyamoto was another transplant for the program. The Chiba, Japan native spent two seasons at ETSU before coming to Nashville. He posted two seasons with double digit wins in dual play, including his career-high of 12 this season. In doubles, he was anyone's best friend as all three years he spent at Belmont saw him and his partners win ten or more doubles matches.
Finally, Grant Kelly concluded his career after five years with the program. Despite not seeing consistent time over his career, teammates could always depend on Kelly for guidance and his willingness to sacrifice time in order to help his teammates get better. If that is not the ultimate mark of "being a Bruin" it is hard to say what is.
The Bruins finished 14-5 to tie two other teams for third most wins in Belmont singles season history. They also went undefeated in conference play for the second time in program history, going 6-0 back in 2017-2018 en route to OVC Tournament title match.
DOUBLES
Tomas Luis/Diego Castro (BEL) def. Mika Berghaus/Elias Grubert (TTU) 6-3
Evzen Holis/Jun Sasagawa (TTU) def. Arthur Toledo/Jack Randall (BEL) 6-4
Alfred Wallin/Taisei Miyamoto (BEL) def. Carlos Vicente/Rafael Tosetto (TTU) 6-4
SINGLES
Elias Grubert (TTU) def. Arthur Toledo (BEL) 6-3, 7-5
Mika Berghaus (TTU) def. Tomas Luis (BEL) 6-0, 6-4
Carlos Vicente (TTU) def. Ian Cruz (BEL) 6-4, 6-4
Alfred Wallin (BEL) vs. Rafael Tosetto (TTU) 4-6, unfinished
Evzen Holis (TTU) def. Diego Castro (BEL) 6-3, 6-2
Taisei Miyamoto (BEL) vs. Andre Rodeia (TTU) 6-4, unfinished
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