ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – For the second straight year, the Aggie men's tennis team drew a match against No. 1 Columbus State to open the NCAA Division II National Championship, but the upset bid came up short in a 4-0 loss on Wednesday.
 
After drawing the top-seeded Cougars in 2021, the 16th seeded Cameron men were due for a rematch early Wednesday morning at the Sanlando Tennis Park to open the National Tournament with a chance to move on to the quarterfinal match on the line. 
 
Doubles was a close battle between the two teams trying to advance to the quarterfinals. CSU started with a 6-1 win at three over Cameron's Baptiste Mercier and Joao Duleba, but the red-hot duo of Tomas Almeida and Thomas Cardona got a big win over the sixth ranked duo in D2 at one, 6-2. 
 
With doubles tied, it came down to the match at two which featured Kristian Kubik and Carlos Vidal for CU and the 13th ranked pair of Tommaso Schold and Pietro Martinetti from CSU. The Cougar duo looked like they had the match in hand, getting a 5-2 lead, but the Aggies battled back and got it to 6-5 before Columbus State's duo finished them off 7-5 to win the point. 
 
The Cougars came out and got a pair of quick wins over Vidal at three and Duleba at six to take a 3-0 lead. Almeida and Cardona both won their first sets at one and two over ranked opponents (Almeida's was against the No. 1 singles player Regalado). But before Cameron could get points from those two, Kubik lost a 6-4, 6-3 battle at five to give CSU the 4-0 win; Mecier was in set three at line four after winning the second 6-4 when the match was called. 
 
Columbus State has now knocked the Aggies out of the postseason with 4-0 wins in back-to-back years and it is the third time in head coach Josh Cobble's tenure that CU has been bounced by the Cougars dating back to 2017 when they lost 5-1. 
 
Cameron ends the 2022 season with a 14-9 record after Wednesday's loss. However, the Aggies have a lot to build on for next year as they lose just one player to graduation after this spring, returning all six that played against the Cougars.