Men's Tennis Falls to Tennessee Tech in Horizon League Championship Semifinals Saturday

MASON, Ohio – The defending Horizon League champion Belmont University men's tennis team's quest for a second consecutive Horizon League Championship title came to a close Saturday afternoon at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. The Bruins (10-12, 3-3 Horizon), the No. 3 South Division seed, were defeated 4-1 by South Division regular season champion Tennessee Tech (15-7, 6-0 Horizon) in the 2026 Horizon League Championship semifinals.
 
Belmont fought its way through doubles, taking the coveted doubles point with a pair of tiebreaker wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. However, the top-seeded Golden Eagles once again proved to be strong throughout their singles lineup and claimed victories on courts three through six.
 
After junior Stefan Vedovelli and senior Sabi Roi fell 6-2 to Tennessee Tech's Alex Alvarez and Davids Spaks at the top doubles spot, graduate Will Ecklund and sophomore Charlie Robin at No. 2 doubles and senior Eli Mizerski and sophomore Morgan Woodson at No. 3 doubles prevailed in 7-3 tiebreakers. Ecklund and Robin topped the Golden Eagles' Linus Rohlin and Christian Capuccini, while Mizerski and Woodson held off Tennessee Tech's Murilo Burckhardt and Diego Munoz.
 
With a 1-0 lead, the Bruins needed to win just half of the six singles matches.
 
The Golden Eagles rebounded from doubles play with straight set triumphs at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Tennessee Tech's Ricard Garavi Yepez bested Ecklund 6-2, 7-5 at the fifth spot and Capuccini won 6-3, 6-3 versus freshman Bautista Durrels Rojo at the sixth spot.
 
The top three singles courts all went to three sets after the Golden Eagles won opening sets at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Roi at second singles won his first set, 6-1, against Spaks and was one game away from closing out the match before Spaks came back. Both Vedovelli at the top of the lineup and Robin at the third position recovered from first set losses with set two wins.
 
The second sets on courts one, two and four were decided in tiebreakers.
 
Burckhardt put Tennessee Tech up 3-1 as he edged Woodson in a second set tiebreaker after winning the first set 7-5.
 
Meanwhile, Roi dropped his set two tiebreak to Spaks at No. 2 singles and Vedovelli overcame a 6-4 first set loss to Alvarez at the top spot by winning his second set breaker.
 
At No. 3 singles, Robin also bounced back from a 6-4 first set loss with a convincing 6-1 set two victory over Munoz. The match would be clinched on court three, though, as Munoz won the deciding third set in 6-2 fashion.
 
Vedovelli and Alvarez were deadlocked at 3-3 in the third set at No. 1 singles and Spaks led Roi 3-2 in the third at the No. 2 position when Munoz secured the match for the Golden Eagles.
 
The loss concludes Belmont's 2026 season.
 
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