Williamsburg, KY – The 12^th-ranked UC men's tennis team rallied in singles to knock off Pikeville 4-3 Saturday afternoon at the UC Tennis Court. The win improves the Patriots to 18-3 overall and helped Cumberlands clinch its first Mid-South Conference regular season title since 2003.

Pikeville came out firing with a 6-2 win at #3 doubles to take the early advantage.  The Patriots top doubles pair of Martin Muller and Hung Ju Wu trailed Mirko Dedich and Juan Diego Alzate early, however, battled back to win 7-5 at #1 doubles to even the match.  The win was the sixth straight for Muller and Wu as they improve to 14-7 overall. 

At #2 doubles, Christian de La Fuente Nodado and Billy Chiang Chia Chung battled with Martin Lorenzo and Alfonso Robinson.  The two duo's traded points throughout the match until the score was tied at 6-6 forcing a tiebreaker. After several back-and-forth rallies Pikeville won the tiebreaker 8-6 and match to give the Bears the early 1-0 lead.

UPIKE extended their lead to 2-0 after earning a win at #3 singles due to retirement.  From that point UC started to rally with Mattis le Montagner leading the charge.  After dropping the first set at #1 singles, Le Montagner took the second set 6-1 forcing the third set.  The Lorient, France native pulled away from Valentin Ortiz 6-2 to put Cumberlands on the board.

Killian Surmont extends his win streak to nine straight matches after a 6-2, 6-2 win at #4 singles to even the score at 2-2.  Surmont and le Montagner are tied for the team lead for longest active win streak.

At #5 singles, Wu gave the Patriots their first lead of the match as he recorded a straight sets win, 6-0, 6-2 over Martin Lorenzo.  For the second time this week, Lucas Augotr tallied the clinching point for the Patriots.  After winning the first set 6-2, Augotr continued to control the match taking the second set 6-2 and clinching the match for Cumberlands.

Pikeville earned a three-set win at #2 singles for the 4-3 final.

Cumberlands finished the regular season with a 9-0 mark in conference play and they extend their win streak to nine straight matches. 

UC has earned the top-seed in the MSC Tournament and will have a first round bye.  The MSC Tournament is scheduled for next weekend in Bowling Green, KY.

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