No. 2 Pirate Men's Tennis Plows Into Semifinals

The No. 2-ranked Armstrong men's tennis team got a spark from the No. 2 doubles team of Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia to close out No. 17 Midwestern State, 5-0, and earn a berth into the semifinals.

With two doubles matches secured, Lalic and Scocuglia trailed a break, 6-4, then fought off a match point at 6-7 to eventually force a tiebreaker and prevail, 9-8 (4) to take a commanding 3-0 lead after doubles. After straight-set wins by Pablo Gor and Georgi Rumenov finished off Midwestern State, the Pirates can now look ahead to a semifinal showdown with No. 3 West Florida.

The Pirates and the Argonauts met last season in the NCAA National Championship match as Armstrong won, 5-0, for the program's third national championship. The two teams were scheduled to meet in a neutral-site regular-season matchup this year, but that match got rained out. West Florida's road to the semis include a 5-0 win over Bluefield State and a 5-1 win over UC San Diego.

The other half of the bracket pits No. 1 Barry against No. 6 Concordia (NY), meaning that the four semifinal participants are four of the top five-ranked teams that came to Arizona for the Round of 16.

Check out junior Sven Lalic's comments on the match above, and get ready to root on the Armstrong women as they take on No.1 Barry in the quarterfinals on NCAA.com !