COLUMBUS - The streak continues. The top-ranked Columbus State University men's tennis team won its fifth straight Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship in impressive style on Sunday, sweeping seventh-ranked Flagler College 4-0. The 2022 PBC Tournament was hosted by CSU at the John W. Walden Tennis Center.

The win gives Columbus State its' sixth PBC Tournament title since 2014 and also revenges a 4-3 loss to the Saints back in mid-April that gave FC the regular-season championship.

"The guys were determined to win this one today," commented head coach Evan Isaacs. "We didn't get the result we wanted the first time against these guys, but the team sure did respond well."

Two of the three doubles matches were tight, with the only runaway victory coming in the second spot for CSU. The Cougars put the early pressure on the Saints after 13th-ranked Pietro Martinetti and Tommaso Schold breezed to a 6-1 win over Jagger Ong-Patzwald and Nikita Tatyanin. 

FC (16-5) tied the doubles score at one following a tight 7-5 win by Petr Cervinka and Jacopo Denitto over Christian Garay and Felix Steen. 

The first point of the afternoon came down to a top-20 showdown at first doubles, where sixth-ranked Alvaro Regalado and Javier Cueto Ramos and 17th-ranked Oscar del Granado and Philipp Lemken were batling. After being down a break early, the Cougar duo rallied back to capture the crucial 7-5 decision.

Columbus State rolled in singles, winning all first six sets played to set the tone for the remainder of the afternoon. Steen was dominant at fifth singles for the Cougars, overpowering Cedric Holzmann 6-1, 6-0 for the first Cougar single win. 

The final two Cougar wins came back-to-back at fourth and second singles. No. 63 Garay was the first to wrap up, defeating Lemken 6-0, 6-2, while the celebration happened on court two after 41st-ranked Cueto Ramos completed a convincing 6-2, 6-1 win over 37th-ranked Tatyanin. 

The Cougars were closing in on two more wins after the clinching point. Top-ranked Regalado was leading 40th-ranked Granado 6-2, 3-1 in the first spot, while 38th-ranked Schold needed just two more games for a straight-set win at third singles over Cervinka. At sixth singles, Martinetti was up a set and led 2-1 in the second when play was called.

Martinetti and Schold were named the Tournament MVPs for doubles after going 2-0 in tournament play.

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Columbus State awaits the draw for the 2022 NCAA Southeast Regional, which will be announced on Tuesday, May 3 at 8 p.m. CSU was ranked second in the last NCAA regional rankings released late last week.