VALDOSTA, Ga. - The Valdosta State men's tennis team suffered a 5-1 loss at the hands of the No. 8 ranked Columbus State Cougars on Wednesday afternoon in Valdosta, Ga.

The loss dropped the Blazers to 12-5 on the year, while the Cougars bumped their overall record to 15-3 overall.

The Cougars picked up momentum early in doubles play with three straight wins, starting with a narrow 9-7 victory at No. 1 for Marco Almorin and Adi Malicbegovic over Edward Nguyen and Niklas Herbring.

The Blazers fell at No. 2 as well with another close match that ended in favor of Oussama Zoghlami and Martynas Zakaitas, who teamed up to defeat Ramon Weil and Gereon Heitmann 8-6.

Doubles action concluded at No. 3 where Joachim Schemm and Francisco Yim Kim put up a fight, but fell 8-5 to Benedikt Wilde and Maciej Kierkus.

Heitmann picked up the lone point of the day for VSU with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Wilde at No. 3, but the match closed out with a pair of victories at both No. 2 and No. 6, as Malicbegovic defeated Herbring 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (4) and Kierkus defeated Schemm 6-3, 6-4.

Next up for the Blazers is a showdown with Armstrong Atlantic on Friday in Savannah, Ga. at 2:00 p.m.