GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College men's tennis team will begin its defense of the 2015 South Atlantic Conference championship on Monday afternoon when it opens its 2015 fall season at UVa-Wise.

The Pioneers will play three dual matches during the fall campaign and will participate in the Lincoln Memorial Fall Invitational. The 2016 spring season will begin on February 20 and will consist of seven non-conference matches and an 11-match SAC schedule.

Tusculum will be replacing three-time SAC Player of the Year Lukas Winkelmann, who graduated this past May. TC returns five lettermen from last year's 18-2 squad (10-1 SAC) including senior Jonas Winkelmann, who is a three-time All-SAC honoree.

Winkelmann owns a 44-11 career singles record and finished 13-5 last season. He is also a two-time All-SAC doubles performer but will be playing with a new partner this season after teaming with his brother Lukas for the past three years.

Also returning is the All-SAC doubles duo of Tashique Kader and Leon Seiz. The pair finished the season with a 13-3 record playing primarily in the second flight. Individually, both owned 15-3 singles record with Kader playing primarily in the fifth spot and Seiz at number four.

Sophomore Toby de Klerk is back after compiling a 9-6 singles record playing primarily in the sixth flight, while junior David Siegle also saw action at number six singles and finished with a 4-2 mark.

The Pioneers have brought in a pair of freshmen to complete the 2015-16 roster. Eduardo Munoz comes to Greeneville from Burgos, Spain after playing at Liceo Castilla High School. Fabian Pair is a native of Feldbach, Austria and played club tennis with UTC Riegersburg.

Monday's match will also mark the first time that the Pioneers will be without longtime head coach Tommy Arnett, who retired after 14 years and 439 career victories. Tusculum alum and former Pioneer tennis player Ted Hensley is serving as interim head coach during the fall season.

UVa-Wise finished with a 4-10 overall record last season. The Cavaliers returns five letter winners including Mountain East Conference Freshman of the Year Andrii Rutnytskyi and senior Oleg Kopychenko.

Following Monday's match, the Pioneers will be back in action on Saturday in Harrogate, Tennessee at the Lincoln Memorial Fall Invitational.