GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The UVa-Wise men's tennis team was swept 9-0 Saturday by Tusculum College on a soggy afternoon in Greeneville, Tennessee. Playing with only five players, the visiting Cavaliers (1-1) were unable to find a match win in either singles or doubles against the host Pioneers (2-0) and had to default No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.
 
The duo of juniors Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) and Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) were topped 8-2 at the top doubles spot by Tashique Kader and Yago Fernandez of Tusculum. At No. 2 doubles, it was the Pioneers' David Siegle and Fabian Paier who upended the tandem of freshman Josh McFadden (Newport News, Va.) and junior Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) 8-1.
 
An injury at the top singles spot forced Rutnytskyi to retire from the match after just two games of play, giving Tusculum's Kader the match win after leading 2-0. Both Tunnikov and McFadden were defeated by identical scores of 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, respectively. Fernandez of Tusculum handed Tunnikov the loss at second singles before the Pioneers' Eduardo Muñoz bested McFadden at third singles. Junior Noah Aldridge (Pennington Gap, Va.) was also topped in straight sets, falling 6-2, 6-1 to Tusculum's Steven Knowles at No. 5 singles. The final match of the day was played as an eight-game pro set at the fourth singles position, where the Pioneers' Gabriel Bernardi was an 8-4 victor over Armistead.
 
The Cavs continue their non-conference fall schedule tomorrow when they take on Maryville College at 10 a.m. in Maryville, Tennessee, and face Johnson University (Tenn.) in a neutral-site tilt at 3 p.m.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
Tusculum College 9, UVa-Wise 0
 
Singles
1. Tashique Kader (TC) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) 2-0, retired
2. Yago Fernandez (TC) def. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 6-2, 6-2
3. Eduardo Muñoz (TC) def. Josh McFadden (WISE) 6-2, 6-2
4. Gabriel Bernardi (TC) def. Christopher Armistead (WISE) 8-4
5. Steven Knowles (TC) def. Noah Aldridge (WISE) 6-2, 6-1
6. David Siegle (TC) def. No player (WISE), by default
 
Doubles
1. Tashique Kader/Yago Fernandez (TC) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi/Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 8-2
2. David Siegle/Fabian Paier (TC) def. Josh McFadden/Christopher Armistead (WISE) 8-1
3. Toby de Klerk/Eduardo Muñoz (TC) def. No player/No player (WISE), by default