HOUSTON, TX – Freshman Karl Rogers won the final four games of his three-set match to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and give 20th-ranked Francis Marion University a 5-4 upset of seventh-ranked Cameron University, Wednesday afternoon (May 14) in the round of Sweet 16 at the NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis National Finals.

Francis Marion ups its record to 19-5 and moves on to Thursday’s national quarterfinals at 2 p.m. (Eastern time) at Houston’s Memorial Park. This will be FMU’s first appearance in the Elite Eight.

With each squad having won four matches, it came down to Rogers against Cameron’s Cristian Easton at No. 5 singles.  The Killiney, Ireland, native won the first set fairly easily and then led 4-3 in set two before Easton captured three straight games to win 6-4.  With Easton serving first in set three, Rogers trailed 3-2.  He then won his serve and broke Easton’s serve to go ahead.

Francis Marion led 2-1 after doubles play, including a historic win at the No. 1 position.  Freshmen Oshada Wijemanne and Dilshod Sharifi beat the Cameron duo of Jordi Mullor and Daniel Pazos, who are ranked No. 1 in Division II, by the score of 8-3. 

Patriot seniors Franklyn Emmanuel and Dananjaya Mayedunne won a marathon 9-7 decision at No. 2 doubles.

The Aggies then took a 3-2 advantage with a pair of straight set wins at No. 4 and No. 6 singles.  Sharifi evened the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles, but Cameron won at No. 2 singles to go up 4-3.  Emmanuel, ranked 24th nationally, again pulled Francis Marion even at 4-4 with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles over Mullor, who is ranked 36th.