WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State fought back, but just didn't have enough to overcome Cameron's energetic start in the NCAA Division II South Central Region No. 2 championship Tuesday morning at the MSU Tennis Center.
The Aggies rode the wave to a 4-2 win over Mustangs advance to the Round of 16 at the site of the NCAA Division II Championships beginning on May 17 at Sanlando Tennis Center in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
Cameron drew first blood claiming the doubles point with Baptiste Mercier and Joao Duleba beat
Quentin Scharfenberg and
Stephen Slocombe 6-4 at No. 3 before Tomas Almeida and Thomas Cardona dealt No. 4-ranked
Alex Martinez Roca and
Ben Westwick their first Division II loss since March 5 -- 6-3 -- at the top flight.
Cardona pushed the Aggies' lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over MSU's
Brice Bradshaw at No. 2 singles before junior
Charles Heffernan put MSU on the board with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Kristian Kubik.
Duleba put Cameron on the brink by beating
Stefan Andrei 7-6 (5), 7-5 win at No. 6 singles.
But the Mustangs battled back with a win at No. 4 with freshman
Marcal Miret Avante splitting sets 6-1, 2-6 with Mercier before taking the third set in a tiebreaker at 7-5 to pull MSU to within 3-2.
Cameron's Carlos Vidal provided the clincher for the Aggies beating Westwick 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. Vidal took control of the final set by breaking Westwick to take a 4-2 advantage.
Westwick pushed Vidal to a deciding point but couldn't come through for a break of his own to fall down 5-3. After holding service, Westwick held a 0-30 edge on Vidal's service, but a lob clipped the baseline on the next point. Vidal rode the wave to clinch the match for the Aggies.
Martinez Roca held a 7-6 (1), 6-5 edge over Almeida at No. 1 singles when the match was clinched.
Midwestern State enjoyed a successful campaign claiming the Lone Star Conference championship with a 7-0 record before advancing to the league's postseason tournament finals.
MSU earned an at-large bid for its ninth consecutive and 19th overall NCAA postseason appearance.
The Mustangs end the season with a 17-9 record.
-- MSUMustangs.com --
