COLUMBUS, Ga. — The No. 5-ranked Lander men's tennis team was upended by No. 9-ranked Columbus State at the John W. Walden Tennis Complex on Saturday afternoon, missing out on a share of the Peach Belt Conference regular season title after suffering a narrow 6-3 defeat. 

The Bearcats drop to 15-4 on the season and 8-2 in the PBC, while the Cougars improved to 18-3, (9-1) with the win. 

Lander earns the third seed in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament and will face sixth-seeded USC Aiken in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. in Florence. 

In singles play, No. 1 KP Pannu (CSU) def. David Korsten (LU) 6-0, 6-4; No. 2 Zach Whaanga (CSU) def. Jules Vauthier (LU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 13-11; No. 3 Eirik Groner (LU) def. Paul Sprengelmeijer (CSU) 6-1, 6-0; No. 4 Matei Avram (CSU) def. Alexandre Springer (LU) 6-3, 7-5; No. 5 Jorge Vargas (CSU) def. Marc Hofer (LU) 6-1, 6-1; and No. 6 Ozan Cildir (LU) def. Maciej Kierkus (CSU) 6-1, 6-1.

In doubles play, No. 1 Pannu/Kierkus (CSU) def. Hofer/Omar El-Moslemany (LU) 8-5; No. 2 Avram/Whaanga (CSU) def. Vauthier/Cildir (LU) 8-4; and No. 3 Korsten/Groner (LU) def. Sprengelmeijer/Vargas (CSU) 8-5.