RADFORD, Va. -- Longwood came to within one set of reaching the Big South semifinals for a second straight year, but UNC Asheville No. 3 Charlie Morkel grinded out a third-set win to stymie Lancer freshman standout Guillermo Cagigas' comeback bid, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 and clinch the Bulldogs' quarterfinal win 4-3 at the Radford Tennis Courts.
 
Morkel's victory was his 10th straight and capped a comeback win for the No. 3 seed Bulldogs (19-4, 6-2 Big South), who trailed No. 6 seed Longwood (13-9, 3-5 Big South) throughout the match until No. 4 Olly Cull, No. 6 Quinn Fender and Morkel won three straight singles bouts to erase Longwood's 3-1 lead.
 
Cull started that comeback bid with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Lancer sophomore Raisei Sakai, and Fender followed with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback of his own against Rosen Naydenov at No. 6.
 
With the score tied at 3-3, the All-Big South second-teamer Cagigas polished off a second-set slugfest 7-6 to set up a dramatic winner-take-all third set in his showdown with Morkel. However, Morkel won the first two games to stake an early lead and rode that cushion to the 6-3 match-clinching victory in set three.
 
The loss ends a third straight winning season for the Lancers, who finished 13-9 to match last year's record and finish one win shy of tying the program's Division I wins record of 14 set by the 2016-17 squad.
 
Following Thursday's season finale, Longwood's current three-year run has seen the Lancers amass a 40-24 record and a .625 winning percentage, both of which rank as the best three-year run of the program's Division I era.
 
Longwood nearly added to that total and pulled off a quarterfinal upset for the second straight year after staking a 3-1 lead over the Bulldogs following a doubles-point win and back-to-back singles victories from All-Big South first-teamers Amadeo Blasco and Guilherme Sergio. Those two Lancers teamed up to make quick work of their No. 1 counterparts in doubles play, cruising past Morkel and Edward Colclough 6-1. That win set up the Longwood No. 2 duo of Marc Casasnovas and Naydenov to clinch the doubles point with their 6-2 win over Cull and Daosaengsawang.
 
UNC Asheville struck back shortly after, picking up a straight-set singles win at the No. 5 slot from Leo Bierbaum, who defeated Longwood sophomore Marc Casasnovas 6-2, 6-2. However, Blasco responded shortly after with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Daosaengsawang at No. 1, and Sergio followed with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph at No. 2 over Oli Nolan.
 
Those two singles wins continued a parallel run of dominance for Longwood's top two players, improving Blasco's record to 24-4 on the year and 18-2 this spring, and Sergio's to 21-5 overall and 20-2 in the spring. Blasco's victory was the 74th of his career, maintaining his stronghold on Longwood's all-time singles winning percentage list and coming to within 15 wins of breaking the school's career singles win mark.
 
However, Blasco and Sergio's wins were the last the Bulldogs allowed as they began their comeback immediately after Sergio put the Lancers within one point of clinching.
 
Cull started that charge with a 7-6, 6-3 defeat of Sakai at No. 4. Fender then knotted it at 3-3 by outlasting Naydenov 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6, which set up Morkel's clincher over Cagigas at No. 3.
 
That loss derailed an end-of-season surge for the freshman Cagigas, who capped his inaugural Longwood campaign with seven wins in his final nine matches. He finished the year 17-9 in singles play, trailing only Blasco and Sergio in victories.
 
Longwood's identity in 2019-20 will remain intact, as the entirety of the six-man is made up of underclassmen. Blasco will be the lone senior, while Casasnovas, Naydenov, Sakai and Sergio will make up a four-man junior class and Cagigas will return for his sophomore year.
 
UNC Asheville 4, Longwood 3
April 18, 2019
Radford, Va. (Radford Tennis Complex)
 
Singles competition
1. BLASCO, Amadeo (LWU) def. DAOSAENGSAWANG, S. (AVLM) 6-3, 7-5
2. SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) def. NOLAN, Oli (AVLM) 6-4, 6-4
3. MORKEL, Charlie (AVLM) def. CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3
4. CULL, Olly (AVLM) def. SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
5. BIERBAUM, Leo (AVLM) def. CASASNOVAS, Marc (LWU) 6-2, 6-2
6. FENDER, Quinn (AVLM) def. NAYDENOV, Rosen (LWU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
 
Doubles competition
1. BLASCO, Amadeo/SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) def. MORKEL, Charlie/COLCLOUGH, Edward (AVLM) 6-2
2. CAGIGAS, Guillermo/SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) def. CULL, Olly/DAOSAENGSAWANG, S. (AVLM) 6-2
3. NOLAN, Oli/BIERBAUM, Leo (AVLM) def. CASASNOVAS, Marc/NAYDENOV, Rosen (LWU) 6-1
 
Match Notes
Longwood 13-9, 3-5
UNC Asheville 20-4, 6-2 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,1,2,4,6,3)
Big South Quarterfinal Match
T-3:30 A-162
 
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