MIAMI, Fla. – The Valdosta State men's tennis team gave the No. 1 Barry Bucs a scare on Saturday before falling 5-4 at the Buccaneer Tennis Center in Miami, Fla.
 
The No. 9 ranked doubles pair of Ahmed Triki and Renato Lombardi took down Niklas Herbring and Gereon Heitmann 8-5 at No. 1 doubles, before Leo Blay and Xavier Pineda evened things up with a 9-7 victory at No. 2 over Franco Echenique and Lucas Kogachi. Fabian Pronnet and Daniel Ventura closed out doubles play with an 8-2 win over Fernando Rivas and Jordi Mas.
 
In singles play, Blay fell at No. 1 to Triki in a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) loss, before the Blazers mounted a comeback attempt that began with a 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 win for Heitmann at No. 2 over Ventura. Pronnet overtook Rivas at No. 3 with a 6-3, 6-0 victory, before Mas blew by Nico Dreer in a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory. Pineda scored a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kogachi at No. 6, but the final blow for the Bucs came at No. 5, where Lombardi outlasted Herbring 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
 
The Blazers return to action immediately, with a Sunday matchup at Rollins in Winter Park, Fla. at 11:00 a.m.