Men's tennis team in third place at national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis team heads into the final day in third place at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Texas.

The ran began to fall at Collin College's courts before play even got started, sending the semifinals indoors on Thursday. The Titans won three semifinal matches in singles and now have 37 points. Tyler Junior College took the overall lead with 40 points.

Hugo Car, Nick DeVivo and Tomas Quesada Perez will all play for a national title on Friday morning in singles.

Car advanced to the finals at No. 1 singles, defeating Weatherford College's Bruno Britez. The sophomore was sharp on Thursday, hitting big shot after big shot to win the first set 6-0.

Car got a big break to take a 4-3 lead and then held serve to lead 5-3. He went on to win 6-4.

Car, who has won all three of his matches in straight sets, will play Tyler Junior College's Juan Carlos Garcia. Garcia, who is the No. 2 seed, has also won every match in straight sets at the tournament.

At No. 3 singles, DeVivo continued his strong play, defeating Cowley College's Omar Suarez in straight sets to advance to the finals. The first set was tight and looked like Suarez may get an early break, leading 15-40, but DeVivo scored the next three points to come back and hold for a 3-2 lead. Up 5-4, DeVivo would get the break to win 6-4.

The freshman seemed to get stronger as the match progressed, going up 4-1 on his way to a 6-2 win.

DeVivo will play top seed Tyler Junior College's Alex Despoja for the title.

Quesada Perez played Barton Community College's Shane Tapera at No. 4 singles and Quesada Perez got out to a fast start, winning the first set 6-1. The sophomore led big in the second set before Tapera made things interesting but Quesada Perez finished the match with a good rally, winning 6-4.

Quesada Perez will play Tyler Junior College's Dan Persson who is the No. 2 seed and has won every match in straight sets.

At No. 5 singles, Jett Leong came back from an early deficit with a break and hold to tie things at 4-4. It would remain tight, going into a first set tiebreaker but fell 7-6. Leong could not come back in the second set, falling 6-2. Leong's tourney ended in the semifinals for the second straight season.

Alex Achour also lost at No. 6 singles, getting off to a slow start as Tyler Junior College's Daniel Borisov took a 4-1 lead before Achour battled back to tie the match 5-5. It would go to a tiebreaker, but Achour fell short, losing 7-6. Borisov took the second set 6-1, ending the run for Achour.

The main draw doubles semifinals were moved to Friday as the final for singles will be at 8 a.m. with the doubles semifinals at 11 a.m. and then the doubles finals is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The Titans have two doubles teams still alive as DeVivo and Colin Tavares will face Cowley College's Pedro De La Riva and Valentin Greco at No. 2 doubles. Perez and Achour will team up at No. 3 doubles and will play Collin College's Enrique Doldan Sisa and Luke Stula Takumi.