VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 16-ranked Valdosta State men's tennis team came out on fire in the 2019 South Regional, as it defeated No. 11 Saint Leo, 4-0 in the first round of the regional.  VSU won its 16^th-straight match for a 16-3 record, while Saint Leo ended its season at 16-10.  
 
VSU will play Sunday in the regional final at 9 a.m. at the VSU Tennis Courts against either No. 7 West Florida or No. 10 Rollins for a berth in the Round of Sixteen of the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis National Championship May 21-24 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla.  
 
This is the 25^thtrip to the NCAA Championship for VSU and the Blazers now are 52-22 all-time with two national titles (2006 & 2011) and three national runner-up finishes. Saturday marked the first time VSU had hosted a regional since 2011, the last time it won the national championship. 
 
In front of the largest crowd of the season, the boisterous fans helped lead the Blazers to the doubles point as the top duo of juniors Yohan Nguyen an Axel Holm upset No. 11-ranked tandem of Aurel Ciocanu and Willem van den Akker, 6-3, while senior Jordi Mas and sophomore Florian Simbozel downed Bruno Faletto and Leo Vega, 6-3, for the team point.
 
Just as in doubles, the Blazers jumped out on the Lions early in the singles portion with first set wins in five of the six singles matches. Simbozel needed a tiebreak to win his first set at No. 2 over Ghali Mensour, while Nguyen made quick work of Aurel Ciocanu in the first set at No. 3, 6-1.  Ciocanu came right back in the second set with a 6-0 win over Nguyen as the momentum looked as if it were shifting to the Lions, but credit the Blazers as freshman Robert Cizek put VSU up 2-0 with a straight-set win at No. 6, 6-2, 6-4.  
 
No. 30 senior Xavier Pineda won at No. 4 over Noel Kunz, 6-3, 6-3, for a 3-0 lead and Simbozel won the second set over Mensour to clinch the match. 
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for whom VSU will face Sunday morning for a trip to the National Championship round.  The Blazers are looking for their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since 2016.