LAWTON, Okla. – The No. 21 Cameron men's tennis team will be heading to Nationals for the fifth straight year as the Aggies took down No. 25 Midwestern State on Saturday, 5-4 in the NCAA South Central Regional match.
 
Cameron and MSU have now played each other three times in the past month, with CU winning 6-3 in the regular season match at home and then taking both postseason matches 5-4.
 
The third meeting between CU and the Mustangs was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. but rain showers kept pushing it back. The Cameron University maintenance staff and coaches from both schools did a great job drying the courts, allowing the match to officially begin at 3 p.m. It was a chilly day for the end of April, but the match was just about to heat up.
 
When the match finally began, the heated rivals battled in the doubles matches. In each of the first two meetings between the two teams, CU took a 2-1 advantage coming out of doubles play, and that formula worked again on Saturday.
 
After losing the two doubles match 8-2, the Aggies came back with the 11th ranked pairing of Felipe Oyarzun and Mateo Velasco beating the 13th ranked team of Ramon Toyos and Dillon Pineda 8-3. That left a battle in the three spot, as CU's Vinicius Santos and Julen Gutierrez fought off the Norrie brothers to win 9-7, giving the Black and Gold the one point advantage.
 
The singles matches began Oyarzun, Velasco, Santos and Gutierrez each going up a set on their opponent; Bruno Babic and Keiran President both lost their first set. Oyarzun would be the first to complete his match as he won in the three spot 6-2, 6-4 to give CU a 3-1 lead. MSU got a point back in the six spot as President fell in two sets. The match was then tied up as Babic also fell in two sets in the two spot.
 
Tied at three point a piece, the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year, Santos took down No. 30 Toyos for the third time this season. However, the Mustangs' four and five singles players forced a third set in each of those matches.
 
Midwestern's four player was able to get a tough win over Mateo Velasco 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, evening up the match at four points, making the five match the deciding factor. 
 
In the five match, freshman Julen Gutierrez battled back and forth with Pineda, as they both held leads before evening the set at five games apiece. The first-year player then showed how tough he was by winning two straight games to take the set 7-5 and give CU the 5-4 victory.
 
First year head coach Josh Cobble took a team who seemed to struggle early in the season and guided them to six straight wins, earning a regular season LSC Championship, a LSC Tournament title and now a NCAA Regional title along the way.
 
Cameron will now head to Nationals in Altamonte Springs, Fla., where they will play the winner of the Southeast 1 Regional on May 9 at 11 a.m.
 

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#21 Cameron 5, #25 Midwestern State 4
Singles competition
1. #29 Vinicius Santos (CUMT) def. #30 Ramon Toyos (MSU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
2. Angel Palacios (MSU) def. Bruno Babic (CUMT) 6-2, 6-4
3. Felipe Oyarzun (CUMT) def. Dylan Hall (MSU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Vasudev Vijayaraman (MSU) def. Mateo Velasco (CUMT) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
5. Julen Gutierrez (CUMT) def. Dillon Pineda (MSU) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5
6. Chris Norrie (MSU) def. Keiran President (CUMT) 6-3, 6-0
 
Doubles competition
1. #11 Felipe Oyarzun/Mateo Velasco (CUMT) def. #13 Ramon Toyos/Dillon Pineda (MSU) 8-3
2. Angel Palacios/Dylan Hall (MSU) def. Bruno Babic/Keiran President (CUMT) 8-2
3. Vinicius Santos/Julen Gutierrez (CUMT) def. Chris Norrie/Denney Norrie (MSU) 9-7
 
Match Notes:
Midwestern State 14-10; National ranking #25; Regional ranking #3
Cameron 16-10; National ranking #21; Regional ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (,3,6,2,1,4,5)
NCAA South Central Regional