GREENWOOD - After enduring a five-hour, marathon match on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference Men's Tennis Tournament, Lander couldn't pull off an upset Saturday as the third-seeded Bearcats lost to second-seeded Columbus State, 5-1, in the semifinal round at the Joe Cabri Tennis Center.

Columbus State, the No. 8 team in the country, will face top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Armstrong Atlantic at 10 a.m. Sunday in the championship match. Armstrong Atlantic advanced past Georgia College, 5-1.

CSU improves to 22-2 overall, while No. 9-ranked Lander moves to 18-4.

The Cougars started the match by taking two of three doubles matches. Martin Shishkov and Oliver Simonet team together at No. 2 doubles to beat Lander Oscar Axelsson/Ross Armstrong, 8-4, then No. 3 Adi Malicbegovic/Michael Trebuhov downed Paul-Henri Arrigoni/Samuel Poutignat, 8-4. Lander claimed the point at No. 1 singles when Adam Jonsson and Vincent Verpeaux defeated Gordan Divljak/Quentin Rayniere, 8-4.

Columbus State ended the match when it claimed the Nos. 4, 5, and 6 doubles and reached five points. No. 4 Shishkov (C) def. Poutignat (L), 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 Trebuhov (C) def. Diego Zegarra (L), 6-3, 6-0; and No. 6 Danilo Sardelli (C) downed Axelsson (L), 6-4, 6-4.

Lander is already assured a berth into the regional championship and awaits the announcement of the pairings.