Cameron men claim LSC tennis title

ARLINGTON, Texas –Cameron men earned a pair of doubles victories to get off to a good start and then three Aggies scratched out tough singles wins to forge a 4-3 victory to bring home the Lone Star Conference championship trophy and help their cause as they strive to host a first-round NCAA Division II regional next week.

Tomas Almeida, playing at the No. 1 singles spot had a big hand in the victory as he first joined with Thomas Cardona to earn a 6-3 doubles win and set up the Aggies with a chance to get the single point for the doubles portion of the event. That second win came from Kristian Kubick and Emilio Seelbach as they came away with a 6-1 victory to give the Aggies the one point for the doubles.

Then the rest was up to the singles matches with the Aggies needing three more points to get the crown and with the two well-balanced teams, everyone expected a fight to the end. Almedia fell behind to Joaquin Bianchi of Tyler 6-2 but the Aggie fought back to even things up with a 6-4 win and took the victory with a 6-3 decision in the third set.

Cardona wasn’t about to go to three sets, beating Gonzalo Fernandez, 6-4, 6-4 to push the Aggies to their third point and on the verge of victory.

CU’s Baptiste Mercier gave a great effort but wound up losing a thriller to Egor Shestakov, 7-6, 6-3, and leaving it to Kubick to try and close out the victory against Carl Wessel and when the Tyler player won the first set 7-5 it put the pressure on Kubick to make a big rally. He squared the match with a 6-4 win in the second set and then won the title with a 6-4 victory to start the Aggie celebration.

The Aggies had beaten Midwestern 4-1 to reach the finals and that gave them a chance to get revenge for a 4-3 loss during the season to the Patriots.

Women falls in LSC Semifinals

Cameron women could not complete their comeback, falling 4-3 to 4-seed Angelo State in the Lone Star Conference Championship Semifinals Friday.

The Aggies dropped No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to fall behind 1-0, at No. 1 doubles Vasilisa Polunova and Karolina Glowinska won 6-4.

CU was down 2-0 after Kateryna Rudenko fell 0-6, 2-6 at No. 4.

Jenna Goessel and Magda Wawrowska knotted the match at 2-2 with wins at No. 5 and No. 6. Goessel won 6-4, 6-0, and Wawrowska had a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

ASU would retake the lead at 3-2 when Lea Manga fell 6-7, 0-6 at No. 3.

Anastasia Uspenskaia rebounded after dropping set one 2-6 to win 7-5 and 6-3 to make it a 3-3 match.

Polunova could not overthrow the LSC Player of the Year at No. 1, falling and ending the Aggies tournament run 5-7, 4-6.

Cameron is now 15-3 on the season as they await the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Selection Show, which will air Monday on ncaa.com. CU entered the weekend as the top-ranked team in the South Central Region, and they will have to see if their loss to Angelo State changed that. If CU is either the one or two seed in the region, they will host on May 1 or 2.