Men's Tennis Sweeps Tennessee State to Begin Horizon League Play

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Dropping only a set in its first-ever Horizon League match, the Belmont University men's tennis team put together yet another dominant performance Thursday afternoon at the Beaman Family Tennis Complex against familiar crosstown foe Tennessee State. The Bruins (10-5, 1-0 Horizon League) earned their fourth sweep of the season, defeating the visiting Tigers (4-11, 0-1 Horizon League) 7-0 to remain perfect at home in 2023.
 
Strong play at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles positions led to Belmont clinching the doubles point within 45 minutes and the Bruins won the top four singles flights in convincing fashion.
 
On court three, junior Tomas Luis and sophomore Ian Cruz routed Tennessee State's Jonasz Dziopak and Nicholas Adamec 6-1 before the 76th-ranked doubles duo of graduate student Marko Ilic and junior Riccardo Trione defeated the Tigers' Pierre Copin and Nil Moinet 6-2 on court one. At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Gabriel Sardo and junior Alfred Wallin were knotted at five games apiece with Tennessee State's Daniel Caraballo and Taj Hibbert when Ilic and Trione wrapped up the doubles point.
 
Cruz was the first player off the court in singles action, dismissing Copin 6-0, 6-3 at the fourth spot while Wallin handled Hibbert 6-1, 7-5 at the second position. Luis secured the match victory at No. 3 singles where he topped Caraballo 6-2, 6-3.
 
At the top singles flight, Ilic bested Moinet 6-3, 6-4 and both Trione and Sardo gutted out tight matches at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively. After dropping the opening set, 6-4, to the Tigers' Diego Britt-Alvarez at the fifth spot, Trione bounced back with a 6-2 set two win. He went on to take the deciding 10-point super tiebreaker 10-8. Sardo closed out the afternoon with two competitive sets against Adamec on court No. 6, winning both, 6-4, 7-5.
 
Up Next
Belmont makes its first Horizon League road trip this weekend, traveling to Southern Indiana Saturday and Tennessee Tech Sunday. Both matches are slated for a 2 p.m. first serve.
 
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