ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – For the second straight season and third time in program history, the 17th ranked Midwestern State Mustangs advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Tennis Championships thanks to a 5-1 triumph over 13th ranked California-San Diego on Wednesday.
 
The Mustangs (19-6) won their sixth straight, while UCSD (15-10) fell for the fourth straight match.
 
"This was a quality win for the program," said MSU Coach Scott Linn. "It was a tight one, despite the score."
 
The Mustangs are scheduled to meet unbeaten No. 1 West Florida on Thursday at noon Texas time.  UWF (26-0) was a 5-0 winner over Edinboro (Pa.) on Wednesday.
 
It wasn't an easy win for the Mustangs, but MSU prevailed thanks to a pair of wins from junior Jarrod Liston and sophomore Kyle Davidson.
 
Davidson and Kacper Boborykin, MSU's No. 2 doubles team, got the first point of the match with an 8-2 triumph over Horea Porutiu/Alexandre Miaule.
 
The Tritons evened the match as Max Jiganti/Kona Luu upset No. 11 Tomas Grejtak/Ramon Toyos 8-4 at No. 1.
 
Then Liston and Zack Santagate played an epic doubles competition against Rajeev Herekar/Mark Meyer at No. 3.  The MSU duo led 7-5 in the eight-game pro-set, only to have Herekar/Meyer battle back to knot it at 8-all.
 
Liston/Santgate answered in the tiebreaker 7-3 to give MSU the 2-1 advantage.
 
"Jarrod (Liston) and Zack (Santagate) hung tough," said MSU assistant Luke Joyce.  "After they got broken late in the match, they stayed together and played hard at the end."
 
When singles play commenced, Toyos wasted little time at No. 3, ripping Ganesh Alagappan 6-1, 6-0 for a 3-1 Mustangs lead.
 
But that was the only singles point that finished in two sets.
 
Liston held a 6-2 lead over Luu after the first set at No. 4, before Luu posted a 6-4 win in the second.  Liston roared back in the third set 6-1 for the Mustangs fourth point in the match.
 
"Liston used his forehand to dictate play in the third set," said Linn.  "He played the ball well, moving at the right times.  It was a quality third set."
 
Davidson, ranked 43rd nationally, clinched it for the Mustangs.
 
After falling behind 4-6 to Herekar at No. 2 singles, Davidson battled back with a 6-4 second set and finished with a 6-1 third for the winner.
 
"Kyle played a good match," Linn stated.  "He executed his service game in the third set and his return percentage went up.  He found weakness in his opponent, played a higher level match and finished strong."
 
In the unfinished singles play, 27th ranked Boborykin and 38th ranked Max Jiganti split sets 6-3, 3-6 with Jiganti holding a 4-1 advantage when play ended at No. 1.
 
Grejtak and UCSD's Meyer split sets 6-3, 5-7 at No. 6 that was left unfinished, and MSU's Chris Norrie trailed Porutiu 7-6 (8-6), 5-4 when the final point was scored.
 
MSU had to wait through a two-and-a half hour weather delay before starting its match with UC San Diego.  The teams had just started warmups when the delay was called.