THE RUNDOWN
LAWTON, Okla. – Sophomore Alex Martinez Roca became the first player in MSU history with back-to-back 20-win singles seasons, improving to 20-2 in 2019 after a 21-4 frosh campaign.
 
Cameron ended 19th-ranked Midwestern State's bid to repeat as regular season Lone Star Conference champions in Thursday's title bout in Lawton. The 17th-ranked Aggies claimed a 5-2 win at the Streich-Henry Tennis Complex to finish the regular season unbeaten in league play.
 
MSU drops its second-straight after winning six-in-a-row to fall to 16-5 overall and 2-1 in LSC action. The Mustangs enter the league's postseason tournament next week as the No. 2 seed, facing UT Permian Basin in the semifinals.
 
Sophomore Alex Martinez Roca became a 20-match winner for the second-straight season. The Castelldefels, Spain, native improved to 20-2 on the year after his 11th-straight win.
 
Cameron grabbed the momentum with wins on all three doubles courts in tightly contested matches. The No. 1 & 2 flights needed tiebreakers to decide a winner while the No. 3 line featured a 7-5 affair.
 
MSU's pair of Angel Palacios and Denney Norrie saw their four-match winning streak snapped by Oscar del Granado and Pierre Marion at No. 3 to give the Aggies their first doubles win.
 
Cameron's 40th-ranked tandem of Przemyslaw Zielinski and Mritunjay Badola ended Nolan McCaig and Dillon Pineda's seven-match winning streak before the No. 26 duo of Julen Gutierrez and Vinicius Santos upset the 15th-ranked team of Ben Westwick and Alberto Diaz at No. 1.
 
Despite falling into the early hole, there was precedent by MSU Texas to rally in singles after being swept. After all, the Mustangs blasted Southeastern Oklahoma with five singles wins after dropping all three courts in pairs play.
 
Unfortunately, the Aggies did something no NCAA DII team had accomplished all season: hand the Maroon and Gold four losses in singles. Nine of 14 singles sets were decided by two games or tiebreakers.
 
Martinez Roca got the Mustangs on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Badola to move to 5-0 at No. 2 and cut the deficit in half, 2-1. After the match was clinched, McCaig won a marathon against del Granado, 6-0, 6-7, 13-11, to close the contest.
 
The Aggies pulled off wins on four of the first five courts to clinch. Westwick lost at the No. 6 flight to Marion – 6-4, 6-2 – to further the deficit to 2-0 while Pineda dropped a 6-4, 6-4 match to Zielinski at No. 3 to push the score to 3-1.
 
Gutierrez secured the win for CU, besting Diaz, 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 5 flight.
 
In a top-10 matchup, eighth-ranked Santos overcame a first-set hole against second-ranked Palacios – 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 – to extend the lead for the Aggies, 5-1.
 
BOX SCORE
#17 Cameron (17-3, 3-0 LSC) def. #19 Midwestern State (16-5, 2-1 LSC)
Thurs. April 25, 2019 | 11 a.m.
Lawton, Okla.
Streich-Henry Tennis Complex
 
Doubles
No. 1 – #26 Julen Gutierrez/Vinicius Santos (CU) def. #15 Ben Westwick/Alberto Diaz (MSU) 7-6
No. 2 – #40 Przemyslaw Zielinski/Mritunjay Badola (CU) def. Nolan McCaig/Dillon Pineda (MSU) 7-6
No. 3 – Oscar del Granado/Pierre Marion (CU) def. Angel Palacios/Denney Norrie (MSU) 7-5
 
Singles
No. 1 – #8 Vinicius Santos (CU) def. #2 Angel Palacios (MSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 – Alex Martinez Roca (MSU) def. Mritunjay Badola (CU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 – Przemyslaw Zielinski (CU) def. Dillon Pineda (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Nolan McCaig (MSU) def. Oscar del Granado (CU) 6-0, 6-7, 1-0 (11)
No. 5 – Julen Gutierrez (CU) def. Alberto Diaz (MSU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 6 – Pierre Marion (CU) def. Ben Westwick (MSU) 6-4, 6-2
 
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (6, 2, 3, 5, 1, 4)

UP NEXT
MSU Texas meets UT Permian Basin at the LSC Postseason Tournament on Friday, May 3, at the Waco Regional Tennis Center.