ORLANDO – Cameron men pushed the top-seeded Valdosta State team to the brink but could not hold off the best squad in the nation in the NCAA Division II National Championship, as VSU won 4-1 in the quarterfinals at the USTA National Campus.
The Aggie women then had to face the best team as well and No. 1-ranked Barry University ended the title hopes for the Aggies with a 4-0 victory Saturday mornings.
Men give good showing
Doubles was a close battle as both teams were trying for a birth to the Final Four. The Blazers started with a 6-3 win at one over the 17th-ranked duo of Tomas Almeida and Thomas Cardona, as Rodrigo Carvalho and Luca Mack are rated at 15th, and Valdosta State would clench the doubles point with a 6-3 win at No. 3, as Kristian Kubik and Emilio Seelbach drop their first match of the year to a DII opponent in Pedro Cordeiro and Christian Wedel.
The unfinished match on two was tight but favored VSU 5-4 over Joao Duleba and Baptiste Mercier.
CU came out strong in the singles as the top three courts had the first set go to the way of the Black-and-Gold, but courts four-six favored the Blazers.
VSU would then jump out to a 3-0 lead, taking a pair of wins over Duleba at five and Alvaro Chavez at six. Almeida, Cardona, and Mercier each won their first sets at one, two, and three; Almeida squared off against the No. 2 singles player in Mack.
Mercier got a score on the board for Cameron before Valdosta State closed out the match with a 7-6(7-0), 7-5 win at No. 3.
Before Almeida or Cardona could finish their matches, Kubik would fall 6-7(5-7), 4-6 on court four to five VSU the 4-1 win. Almeida was ahead 2-0 in the third set, and Cardona was winning 2-1 in set three when the match was called.
Valdosta State moves on to the Final Four and will face the defending champions Barry on Monday.
Cameron closed the 2023 season with a 17-4 record after Friday’s loss.
