ARLINGTON, Texas -- No. 24-ranked Midwestern State utilized a pair of massive comeback efforts to stun No. 7-ranked UT Tyler, 4-3, in the Lone Star Conference Championship semifinals Friday at the Arlington Tennis Center.

The Mustangs (15-5) advance to face No. 5-ranked Lubbock Christian in the final Saturday at noon. The Chaps earned a berth in the championship round with a 4-2 victory over UT Permian Basin. Both matches were interrupted by a six-hour weather delay.

MSU needed some magic in doubles play after the Patriots took the advantage with a 6-2 win at the No. 2 position.

But Killian Guillou and Juan David Duque overcame a 5-3 deficit by winning the last four games to level doubles at one match apiece, taking down UT Tyler's Job Japelj and Trevor Short, 7-5, at No. 3.

That was just a prelude to the effort that Filip Vacula and Stephen Slocombe expended at No. 1 doubles.

The duo trailed the No. 6-ranked tandem of Carel Wessel and Daniil Felker, 5-2, before winning four of the next five games and a tiebreaker as the Mustangs took a hard-earned 1-0 lead heading into singles.

Slocombe provided the crucial and clutch win for the Mustangs in singles play after facing a mountain of adversity at the No. 3 position.

The senior from Christ Church, Barbados, was in great position before the weather delay, leading UT Tyler's Martin Despodov 5-3 in the second set after taking the opener by a 6-4 margin.

But Despodov won nine consecutive games coming out of the weather delay to win the second set 7-5 and take a commanding 5-0 advantage in the deciding frame.

But Slocombe wasn't finished.

He scrambled to win the next six games before Despodov pushed back to force the tiebreaker.

Slocombe lost the first point before running off six-straight winners before giving the Mustangs a 3-2 lead by taking the tiebreaker, 7-3.

After the Patriots rallied to take a split-set win at No. 5, Midwestern State junior Juan David Duque delivered the clincher with a 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4 win over Jordi Garcia at No. 6.

Midwestern State snapped UT Tyler's 18-match winning streak as the Patriots fell to 21-2 on the season season. It was UTT's first loss since falling 5-2 to No. 2-ranked West Florida on February 28.

The Mustangs advanced to the LSC Championship final for the second consecutive year, and seek their first postseason title since 2019.
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