NCAA Men's Tennis: Cougars Advance to Elite 8 After Defeating U.C. San Diego 5-0

Altamonte Springs, FL – The No. 10 Columbus State men’s tennis team is now one match away from returning to the National semifinal match after the Cougars defeated No. 9 U.C. San Diego 5-0 in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Championship. CSU now improves to an 18-4 mark on the season while Tritons end their campaign with a 20-1 record.

In doubles action, Andre Mordhorst and Pasqual Duttlinger continued their great play as they defeated the duo of Max Jiganti and Armaun Emanmi 8-1. The fourth ranked doubles team in the nation, Christophe Noblet and Gordan Divljak, increased their match winning streak to 13 games as they defeated No. 21 Erik Elliott and Austin West 8-5. Filip Cojbasic and Martin Shishkov gave the Cougars a sweep in doubles play as they defeated Junya Yoshida and Chapman Chan 8-5.

Needing only two wins in single action to continue on to the Elite 8, Gordan Divlajk defeated Chapman Chan 6-2, 6-4 in second singles. Andre Mordhorst gave the Cougars the victory in the match as he defeated Sam Ling 6-4, 6-1 in fourth singles. Christophe Noblet won his first set over Erik Elliott 6-3 and was leading his second set 4-1 over Elliott. Pasqual Duttlinger also won his first set over Junya Yoshida 6-3 and was leading 4-1 in the second set. Martin Shishkov defeated Vincent Nguyen 6-3 in the first set at fifth singles and was trailing 2-1 in the start of the second set. In the only set the Cougars lost today came in sixth singles as Olivier Simonet drop set one 6-1 to Austin West but rebounded to win the second set 6-2 over West.

Columbus State will now head to the NCAA quarterfinals as they face No. 28 Western New Mexico on Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. Western New Mexico defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 5-1 to advance to the Elite 8. The match will be played at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Singles
1. #31 Christophe Noblet (CSU) vs. #22 Erik Elliott (UCSD) – 6-3, 4-1 unfinished
2. Gordan Divljak (CSU) def. Chapman Chan (UCSD) – 6-2, 6-4
3. Pasqual Duttlinger (CSU) vs. Junya Yoshida (UCSD) – 6-3, 4-1 unfinished
4. Andre Mordhorst (CSU) def. Sam Ling (UCSD) - 6-4, 6-1
5. Martin Shishkov (CSU) vs. Vincent Nguyen (UCSD) – 6-3, 1-2 unfinished
6. Olivier Simonet (CSU) vs. Austin West (UCSD) – 1-6, 6-2, unfinished

Doubles
1. #4 Noblet and Divljak (CSU) def. #21 Elliott and West (UCSD) – 8-5
2. Filip Cojbasic and Shishkov (CSU) def. Yoshida and Chan (UCSD) - 8-5
3. Duttlinger and Mordhorst (CSU) def.  Max Jiganti and Armaun Emanmi (UCSD) - 8-1