VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's tennis team had an outstanding week, closing out the 2019 home slate as it posted a 5-2 win over No. 12 West Alabama on Saturday and a thrilling 4-3, come-from-behind win over No. 8 West Florida Sunday, 4-3, as the Blazers took over the lead in the Gulf South Conference standings.   VSU won its seventh and eighth matches in a row as it improved to 8-3 overall and 6-0 in Gulf South Conference play.
 
VSU swept won the doubles point, winning at Nos. 1 and 2 for the early 1-0 lead.  In singles, senior Jordi Mas won at the top spot, 6-4, 6-3 for a 2-0 lead, while junior Yohan Nguyen won at No. 3, 6-3, 6-2 for a 3-0 lead.  The Blazers then clinched the match at No. 2 singles as freshman Florian Simbozel won, 6-3, 6-4.  Junior Axel Holm also had a win at No. 5 for the Blazers for the 5-2 win.
 
On Sunday, in a battle of the top two teams in the league as VSU entered at 5-0 and UWF was 6-0, the Argos won the doubles point to take the early lead. UWF went up 2-0 with a win at No. 6 as freshman Robert Cizek fell to No. 47 Juan Motta, 6-3, 6-2. 
 
Mas, ranked No. 17 in the latest ITA rankings, won at the top spot over No. 9 Serdar Bojadjiev, 6-1, 7-5 for a 2-1 deficit. Nguyen got won at No. 3, battling back from a set down for a pair of 6-1 wins in three sets, evening the match at 2-2.  Simbozel lost at No. 2 in three sets, winning the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6, but dropped the final two sets as UWF took a 3-2 lead. 
 
The upset-minded Blazers kept battling and evened the match at 3-3 with a huge win at No. 4 as No. 45 senior Xavi Pineda won over Robin Rafaitin 7-6, 7-5.  Down to the final match, Holm had probably the best match of the season as he battled back from a set down for a 7-6 win in the second set and posted a 6-4 win in the third set to clinch the match.
 
The Blazers have four conference matches left and head to Auburn Montgomery on Apr. 11 and will then head to Pensacola, Fla., to battle Mississippi College on Apr. 12, while facing Delta State Apr. 13 and Christian Brothers on Apr. 13, to conclude the regular season.