Two For The Road: No. 1 Pirate men join women for Championship Saturday

The top-ranked Pirate men came out on fire in doubles against No. 3 Lynn, carving out three quick victories - including Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia's 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles - then winning the first set in all six singles matches against the Knights.

The Knights battled hard, but Armstrong prevailed with two straight-set singles wins from Dan Regan and Mikk Irdoja, to send Armstrong into the NCAA Division II National Championship match for the third time in the last five seasons. It's also the third time in the last five seasons that both the men and women will play for the title on the same day.

The Pirates will take on West Florida at 1 p.m. tomorrow for the title. The No. 2-ranked Argonauts blew through a game Augusta State squad, 5-0, after the Jaguars had to come back this morning and work hard to advance past Grand Canyon, 5-4. Big kudos to our Peach Belt brethren for an outstanding season - unofficially it has to be the first time that a 6 seed in a regional advanced all the way to the NCAA Semifinals, especially in DII men's tennis.

The Pirates downed the Argonauts, 9-0, back in February in a neutral-site match in Columbus. That match was more than two and a half months ago, however, and West Florida has had it rolling heading into the title match. Anyone expecting a similar blowout will be sorely disappointed and Armstrong will have to bring it's "A" game on Saturday to come away with the victory.

Below you can watch the clinching points from today's semifinal matches - first Mikk Irdoja's 6-4, 6-2 win over Luca Pavanelli at No. 3 singles in the men's match, then Clara Perez' 7-5, 6-3 win over Caroline Wendling at No. 6 singles in the women's match.

Mikk Irdoja final point in 5-0 semifinal win over Lynn

Clara Perez final point in 5-2 semifinal win over Barry