COLUMBUS, Ga. – The No. 9 Valdosta State Blazers took No. 11 Columbus State all the way to No. 5 singles on Wednesday before the Cougars claimed the deciding victory for a 5-3 non-conference win at Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center in Columbus, Ga.
 
Columbus State's Maciej Kierkus and Marco Almorin set the tone early in the match with a narrow 9-8 win over Niklas Herbring and Gereon Heitmann at No. 1 doubles, and Jorge Vargas and Martynas Zakaitis outlasted Fernando Rivas and Jordi Mas 8-3 at No. 3. The Blazers did, however, salvage a point with a No. 2 win for Leo Blay and Xavier Pineda over Zach Whaanga and KP Pannu.
 
Blay picked up a convincing 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 1 to tie the contest up at 2-2, and Heitmann held momentum at No. 2 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Almorin. The tide turned at No. 3, however, as Vargas edged out Rivas at No. 4, 7-6, 6-3, and Whaanga slid past Mas with a 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 4. The thrilling conclusion came at No. 5, as Herbring took Kierkus to three sets before falling 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
 
VSU fell to 6-3 on the year with the loss, while the Cougars boosted their overall record to 8-3.
 
The Blazers will dig back into conference action on March 23^rd against the Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville.