ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – The magic for No. 3 Hawai'i Pacific University ran out on Thursday afternoon in the 2019 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships as No. 1 Columbus State (Ga.) took a 4-1 victory in the national semifinals.
 
The third-seeded Sharks (18-5) saw their season come to a close, while the second-seeded Cougars (28-2) move on to the national championship match.
 
The Sharks put themselves behind the eight-ball early by dropping the doubles point to the Cougars. At No. 1, the top-ranked Division II doubles duo of CSU's Alvaro Regalado and Zach Whaanga defeated 17th ranked Valentin Masse and Maxime Gayte 6-2, but the Sharks countered at No. 3 with Benjamin Loccisano and Ondrej Ctverak beating Matai Avram and Fabien Asdrubal 6-2. The Cougars claimed the point at No. 2 as Arnold Kokulewski and Tommaso Schold beat HPU's Lukas Bauer and Cheng-Chieh Wang 6-2.
 
The Sharks evened the match at 1-1 by taking the first singles point. Bauer made quick work of Schold 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6. But the Cougars went back up just as quickly with 66th ranked Asdrubal beating Ctverak 6-3, 6-1 for the 2-1 lead.
 
CSU claimed a 3-1 lead with a win at No. 4 as 54th ranked Kokulewski beat HPU's 39th ranked Gayte 6-1, 7-5, then closed the door with 25th ranked Regalado winning 6-4, 7-6 by taking the tiebreaker 7-5.
 
Unfinished were No. 1 singles where 21st ranked Masse was serving for the match against 34th ranked Whaanga 3-6, 6-3, 5-4 when stopped, and No. 5 where Wang and 67th ranked Avram had split sets 5-7, 6-2 and were tied 2-2 in the third.
 
HPU finished the season as a national semifinalist for the second time in school history while making their eighth appearance in the final four.