Campbellsville University men's tennis fell one set shy of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Championship match Thursday. Shortly after midnight, Eastern time, CU sophomore Pablo Numbela fell in three sets to North Greenville's Luis Campos, as the Tigers fell to the Crusaders, 5-4, in the NCCAA national semifinals at the Mobile (Ala.) Copeland-Cox Tennis Center.



Campbellsville took a 2-1 lead in the semifinal as the Tigers continued to perform well at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. The lead stretched to 4-2 after senior Enrique Rubio and sophomore Zac Malyon won at No. 1 and No. 5 singles, respectively. Rubio paired up with Numbela for No. 1 doubles, while Malyon competed with Terry Caven at No. 3 doubles.

Felip Pavlovic and Caven also each went to three sets with North Greenville at No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Each of the singles matches that went a third set ended with North Greenville winning the third set, 6-3.

The loss concludes the Tigers' season at 15-7.

"It's always an honor to make it to the semifinal of a tournament like this. We had to play a really long match with King and that delayed us getting started with the semifinal. We also had to stop a few times due to guys cramping up," CU head coach Kyle Caven said. "It's just a blessing having such a good group of guys ... It's been a good year. We're sad it's over but we have a lot of young guys coming back. It's been a great experience for us. Hopefully we can come back next year and bring our girls."

Campbellsville started the day Wednesday with a 5-4 win over King College in the final match of pool play. The Tigers swept its competition in Pool A to advance to the semifinal late Wednesday night for the second straight year. CU trailed, 2-1, after winning at No. 1 doubles but dropping No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. Rubio evened the match, 2-2, with a win at No. 1 singles, followed by a No. 2 singles win by Numbela and a No. 6 singles win by Caven. The Tigers sat even with King, 4-4, as the match was decided at No. 4 singles. Angel Marquez defeated Juan Avila of King in the third set, 6-2, to advance the Tigers to the semifinal.

The 2010 semifinals featured the same teams as 2009 but with different pairings. Defending NCCAA champion Olivet Nazarene University, which beat CU in the 2009 semifinal, met Palm Beach Atlantic University Wednesday night, while CU met North Greenville. PBAU beat Olivet in a rematch of the 2009 final to advance to Thursday's championship match with North Greenville at 1 p.m. Palm Beach dominated North Greenville in pool play Tuesday, 5-0.

Palm Beach also advances to the championship in the women's tournament and will play Dallas Baptist University.

NCCAA All-Americans and other annual awards will be announced Thursday.