By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech tennis team suffered its first Horizon League loss of the season, as the Golden Eagles narrowly dropped their battle with Belmont behind a 4-3 defeat in the club's final road match of the regular season.

With the win, the Bruins (10-9, 5-0 HL) wrap up the South Division's No. 1 seed in next week's Horizon League Tournament. Tech (3-11, 3-1 HL) will have the opportunity to officially claim the South Division's No. 2 seed with a win in Monday's regular-season finale against Tennessee State. The originally-scheduled Friday affair with the Tigers was postponed to Monday at 11 a.m. CT at Tech Tennis Courts.

Saturday afternoon's get-together saw the Golden Eagles claim a trio of straight-set singles victories. Paulo Ramos Martin secured a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Niklas von Hellens in the No. 3 position to go along with a Lucas Bitzer 6-3, 6-3 win against Ruben Busch in the No. 5 meeting and a Darek Kuczynski 6-1, 6-3 nod over Benton Drake in the No. 6 tangle.

Belmont captured the top two matchups thanks to an Alfred Wallin 6-2, 6-3 triumph against Alex Alvarez and a Tomas Luis 6-1, 6-0 victory over Murilo Burckhardt in the No. 3 tussle.

Gabriel Sardo earned a win in No. 4 after taking the first set 6-0 against Davids Spaks before Spaks retired in the second set with Sardo ahead 1-0.

Doubles play went down to the wire after the clubs exchanged 6-1 victories in the top two slots. Murilo Burckhardt and Paulo Ramos Martin won over Ruben Busch and Benton Drake in the No. 2 position, while Niklas von Hellens and Alfred Wallin defeated Lucas Bitzer and Davids Spaks in the No. 1 get-together.

Gabriel Sardo and Tomas Luis snuck past Alex Alvarez and Darek Kuczynski with a 7-6 (7-4) nod in the No. 3 meeting to help the Bruins pick up the tandem point.

Admission to Tech's regular-season finale vs. State on Monday at 11 a.m. is free of charge.

Photo by Jim Dillon