Men's tennis team in fourth place at national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis team had a good day at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament Tuesday in Plano, Texas.

The Titans had three singles players and two doubles teams pick up wins and advanced to the semifinals of the national tournament.

Fernando Martinez, Pablo Garcia and Ignacio Sendra all won their quarterfinal matches to advance to Wednesday's semifinals.

Martinez, the No. 6 seed at No. 1 singles, defeated No. 3 seed Haruki Okude to advance to the semifinals on Wednesday morning. Martinez broke Okude to go up 4-2, then held and broke again to win the first set 6-2. The second set was all Martinez, rolling to a 6-1 win.

Martinez will play the No. 2 seed Gaspard Bicrel-Bantegny from Seward. Bicrel-Bantegrny defeated Erdem Turgut 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. The semifinal will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday at Collin College.

Garcia advanced at No. 4 singles on Tuesday, defeating No. 3 seed Luka Van Geel of Tyler Junior College. Garcia broke Van Geel twice late to pick up the 6-2 win in the first set and then won the second set 6-4 to advance to the semifinals.

Garcia will play No. 2 seed Ander Huelamo of Collin College on Wednesday morning. Huelamo won a tough three-set match against Barton's Armando Sigauque, losing the first set 6-2 before winning the next two 6-4, 6-4.

Sendra defeated Cowley's Vaughn Smith 6-3, 6-3 to advance at No. 6 singles. Sendra will move on to play No. 2 seed Toby Eyrl-Collins who won his match 6-0, 6-0.

At No. 2 singles, Salva Mulet won a tight first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 but fell in the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2.

At. No. 3 singles, Johan Mottlau battled early but fell to No. 4 seed Luca Laurindo 6-4, 6-3. Mottlau will play SW Illinois' Ethan Moeller in the consolation semifinals Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

At No. 5 singles, Tomas Kurz Cardozo lost in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Cardozo will play Seward's Juan Luzuriaga in the consolation semifinal on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

The Titans won two of the three doubles matches in the evening session and are in the middle of the hunt at the national tournament.

The No. 1 doubles team of Martinez and Mulet took care of No. 4 seed Matteo Cardoso and Santiago Hidalgo in straight sets, 6-2, 3-2 to advance to the semifinals on Wednesday.

The duo of Filip Sormaz and Mottlau won the first set 6-2 and held serve to close out the match, winning the second set 6-4 at No. 2 doubles. The duo will play No. 1 seed of Enrico Franchi and Alejandro Pardo of Tyler Junior College in the semifinals.

The No. 3 doubles team of Cardozo and Garcia battled Collin College's Boitshepo Maake and Santiago Martinez to a third set but a late break by Collin gave them the win, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

The Titans are in fourth place overall with 17 points. Pratt Community College leads the tournament with 24 points.

The three singles players and two doubles teams will play for a spot in the national tournament finals on Wednesday.