EDMOND, Oklahoma - The No. 23-ranked Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat men's tennis team staged an epic comeback to secure a 4-3 win over the No. 20-ranked Washburn University Ichabods in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Central Region Tournament.

The Bearcats will match up against Southern Arkansas University in the Central Region championship match Saturday at 2 p.m.

Northwest (15-4 overall) overcame losing the doubles point and two singles matches to rally for a dual victory over Washburn (11-5 overall).

Washburn captured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles by identical 6-3 scores.

The Ichabods began singles play with a win at No. 4 singles from Bradley Eidenmueller over Northwest's Fillippo Piranomonte, 6-2, 6-0.

Washburn added to the lead with another win at No. 5 singles as Daniel Bird took down Northwest's Martin Sanchez, 6-4, 6-3.

Northwest's Fabien Calloud started the winning way with a three-set win at No. 2 singles over WU's Miquel Perez, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. 

Bearcat senior Agustin Velasco dispatched WU's Sebastian Pjontek at No. 6 singles in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

At No. 1 and No. 3 singles, the Bearcats also had to overcame first-set losses to their opponents. At No. 1, Andrea Zamurri dropped the first set to WU's Raul-Alin Dicu, 6-3. But Zamurri recovered and remained perfect at 18-0 on the year with 7-6 (7-0), 6-0 triumphs in the second and third sets. At No. 3 singles, Franco Oliva dropped the first set tiebreaker to WU's Paul Haase, 7-6. Oliva dug deep and posted back-to-back 6-3, 6-3 wins in the second and third sets to clinch the dual victory.