OKLAHOMA CITY - Continuing its quest for an ITA Indoor Championship, the second-ranked Columbus State University men's tennis team shutout No. 9 Hawaii Pacific 4-0 Saturday afternoon. The tournament is being played at the OKC Tennis Center in Oklahoma City.

With the victory, CSU (6-0) advances to the inaugural championship match of the Division II ITA Indoor Championship Sunday afternoon. The Cougars will take on the winner of the other semifinal match between top-ranked Barry and third-ranked West Florida. 

"This was a tighter match than the final score indicated," stated head coach Evan Isaacs. "Hawaii Pacific is an excellent team and they pushed us to the limit today."

"I'm proud of the guys for finding a way to win. That's always the main thing. Get the win and keep on advancing, and that's what we did this afternoon."

Doubles play was thrilling, with all three matches being competitive. After the Sharks grabbed a win at first doubles, the Cougars needed to rally to secure the first point of the day. Tommaso Schold and Pietro Martinetti kept CSU's chances alive with a 6-4 win at the third position to set up the decisive decision at second doubles.

In the match, Matei Avram and Christian Garay were pushed to the limit by Marcel Hornung and Benjamin Loccisano with the final outcome decided by a tiebreak. Eventually, the Cougar pair took the tiebreaker 7-5 to win the match 7-6 putting Columbus State ahead 1-0.

The Cougars got off to a quick start in singles action before a Hawaii Pacific (6-4) rally. However, the comeback effort wasn't good enough with CSU pulling away at third, fourth, and fifth singles.

Garay was the first to complete his match at the third spot taking down Hornung 6-2, 6-3. Javier Cueto Ramos was equally impressive at fourth singles defeating Ryohei Arai 6-1, 6-3. After needing an extra game to win the first set, Schold had no problem with Matej Panik in the second to take the match 7-6, 6-3 to send the Cougars as winners.

In the unfinished matches, second-ranked Alvaro Regalado and Avram were both headed to the third set while Fabien Asdrubal was leading 6-2, 1-6, 3-0 at second singles when play was called.