PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Lady Blazers of Valdosta State women's tennis dropped a hard fought match 4-5 to the Concordia Clippers on Saturday before bouncing back to defeat Mississippi College 5-2 in the nightcap in Pensacola, Fla. on Friday.

VSU's defeat at the hands of the No. 26 Clippers came after Jennifer Rink and Anke Poncelet fell 8-5 at No. 1 doubles to Romana Tabak and Costanza Mecchi.

The Blazers kept the match interesting with a win for Bea Morales Hernandez and Joanna Lario, who teamed up to defeat Alla Kravchuk and Demi Huang 8-5 at No. 2.

In singles play, Morales Hernandez cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Tabak at No. 1, and Lario outlasted Kravchuk 6-3, 7-6 (1) at No. 3. Poncelet scored the fourth and final point of the set for the Lady Blazers at No. 4 after defeating Huang 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-6.

Concordia claimed the match, however, with Mecchi's 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Rink at No. 2 and Linda Eliasson's 6-0, 6-1 victory over Taylor Vinge at No. 5, along with forfeits at both No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.

The second match against Mississippi College saw the Lady Blazers bounce back with a convincing win over the Lady Choctaws that started with an 8-0 triumph for RInk and Poncelet at No. 1 over Sofia Gonzalez-Carrera, followed by an 8-4 win for Morales Hernandez and Lario over Brenna Keller and Karly Matthews. The Lady Blazers lost a point with a forfeit at No. 3, but picked right back with their solid effort in singles play.

Morales claimed her second singles victory of the day at No. 1, when she defeated Carrera 6-1, 6-1, and Lario blew by Christa Owen 6-1, 6-2. The Blazers were forced to forfeit a point at No. 6, but Poncelet's 6-1, 6-0 victory over Courtney Schrock at No. 5 sealed the victory for VSU.

The Lady Blazers moved to 12-4 on the sseason and 7-1 in Gulf South Conference play, while Concordia improved to 13-3 and MC dropped to 6-6 overall, 2-4 in GSC play.

Valdosta State's next match will take place on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. in Pensacola, Fla. against Georgia Gwinnett.