Three players to play in national tournament semifinals Thursday

Three Eastern Florida State College men's tennis players will play in the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament semifinals on Thursday.

Lucas Gonzalez, Lluc Pasqual Camps and Corentin Venot will be back on the court at 8 am. for semifinal matches. It is the second straight season that the Titans have had at least three players in the national tournament semifinals.

Gonzalez faced Collin Community College's Adrien Guibert in the quarterfinals on Wednesday morning and it took over two hours for Gonzalez to edge Guibert.

The first set saw Gonzalez take a 4-2 lead but Guibert would go on a run, tying the match 4-4. Down 5-4, Gonzalez used a strong service game to tie it back up 5-5. Both would break the other to tie things at 6-6 and send it to a tiebreaker. Guibert went on another run to win the tiebreaker 7-3 and take a 1-0 lead.

Down 1-0, Gonzalez jumped out to a 4-2 lead again but this time he would break Guibert to take a 5-3 lead and would serve out the second set to tie the match 1-1.

The third set saw the two trade points early, but Gonzalez got the break to take a 3-2 lead. He then used his service game to take a 4-2 lead. The sophomore would break Guibert once again to take a 5-2 lead and then served out the win.

"It was a tough win, was a really good match, really difficult. I broke my strings in the first set and didn't have a good racket, the strings were bad, so it was a tough win, but I got it," Gonzalez said. "Being in the semifinals is a really good achievement for me, It is going to be a tough match but I am prepared, I am hyped and ready to take it."

Gonzalez will play No. 1 seed Takeshi Taco from Cowley Community College at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Camps was next up at No. 5 singles, facing Barton Community College's Sam Bajracharya in a match that lasted over three hours.

The two battled back and forth throughout the match in one of the closest matches of the day.

The two would tie the first set 6-6, going to a tiebreaker which Camps would win 7-5 to take a 1-0 lead. But Bajracharya would bounce back and win the second set 6-2 to force a decisive third set.

The two would be tied 3-3 in the third set before Bajracharya would break Camps to take a 4-3 lead, but Camps would turn around and tie it back up with a break of his own. Tied 4-4 Camps held serve for a 5-4 lead but Bajracharya tied it 5-5. It would go to deuce twice before Camps won two straight to take a 6-5 lead. From there he held serve and finished off the win to advance to the semifinals.

Camps will face No. 1 seed Jakob Mosvold of Tyler Junior College in the semifinals. Mosvold has won both of his matches in straight sets in the tournament. The match will begin at 8 a.m.

Venot played Barton Community College's Prince Tsiang in a No. 6 singles quarterfinal match that was highly contested despite being a straight set win for Venot.

Down 5-4 in the first set, Venot held serve to tie the match 5-5 and then broke Tsiang to take a 6-5 lead. He would rally to force deuce and would win the next two points to capture the first set 7-5.

The second set went back and forth throughout with the players trading points. Venot would win a highly-contested point to take a 5-4 lead and Tsiang reacted by hitting the ball over the fence. It was his second reaction and costed him a point, which gave Venot the win and a spot in the semifinals.

Venot will play No. 1 seed Andoni Garmendia of Cowley Community College. Garmendia has won both of his matches in straight sets in the tournament.

A couple of doubles teams picked up wins in consolation rounds and will have a chance to win the flights on Thursday.

The No. 1 doubles team of Lucas Gonzalez and George Myers Millington picked up a win against a du from Saulk Valley Community College 8-0 in the quarterfinals of the consolation round.

The duo will play Mesa Community College's Austeberto Carlon and Cameron Khan in the semifinals. The winner will play in the consolation final later in the afternoon.

The No. 3 doubles team of Jaewoo Choi and Enriq Porcar picked up an 8-4 win over Harford Community College. The duo will advance to the semifinals to play Mesa Community College's Andrew Hoffman and Duncan Mulenga in the semifinals. The winner will play in the consolation final later in the afternoon.

Bernardo Vieira lost in the quarterfinals at No. 4 singles to 4 seed Mauri Gonzalez from Seward Community College in the morning session. Vieira, who won a national title at No. 3 doubles last season, teamed with Camps at No. 2 doubles in the quarterfinals. The duo fought in the afternoon heat, but fell in straight sets to end their run at the national tournament.

The Titans are tied for sixth place overall with 22 points with ABAC and Iowa Central Community College heading into the semifinals. Cowley Community College and Seward Community College are tied for first place with 36 points.