VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 16-ranked Valdosta State men's tennis teams hosts No. 11 Saint Leo Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the VSU Tennis Courts in the first round of the 2019 NCAA South Regional, hosted by VSU. 
 
The regional is free and open to the public and fans can access links to live stats for the matches at vstateblazers.com on the men's tennis schedule page.  Check back with the site for complete recaps of all VSU matches. 
 
The Blazers (15-3) have won 15-straight matches and won the Gulf South Conference regular season and tournament titles this season with a 10-0 mark in the regular season and a 4-2 win over West Florida in the tournament final last weekend. 
 
VSU is hosting its first regional since 2011, the last time the Blazers won the national championship.  No. 7 West Florida is the No. 3-seed in the regional and No. 10 Rollins is the No. 6-seed in the regional.  The UWF/Rollins match will begin Saturday following the VSU match.  The two winners then will play Sunday at 1 p.m. for a berth in the National Championship round at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla., May 21-24. 
 
In the other half of the regional, top-ranked and top-seeded Barry is the host and will face No. 8-seed Benedict, while No. 4-seed Lynn will face No. 5-seed West Alabama.  The winner of that half of the regional also will advance to Altamonte Springs for the National Championship round. 
 
The Blazers had another thriller with West Florida and could potentially meet a third time and the second round of the regional on Sunday.  VSU won the first meeting with the Argos, 4-3 in Valdosta earlier this season and then posted the 4-2 win last weekend.  In the GSC final, VSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead winning the doubles point as juniors Yohan Nguyen and Axel Holm won at No. 1 over No. 25 Sendar Bojadijiev and Vitinho Galvao, 6-4, while the Blazers won 6-4 at No. 2 doubles as senior Jordi Mas and sophomore Florian Simbozel downed Robin Rafaitin and Pedro Cordeiro. 
 
The Argos wouldn't go away quietly as they tied the match with a win from Rafaitin at No. 4 over senior Xavi Pineda, 6-3, 6-2, and took a 2-1 lead as Cordeiro downed VSU freshman Robert Cizek at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-2.  That's when VSU mounted its comeback.  The Blazers tied the match with a win from Nguyen at No. 3 singles as he defeated Lucas Sanchez, 6-4, 7-5 and VSU took a 3-2 lead at Simbozel defeated Juan Cabrera at No. 2 singles, in the only match to go three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.  Only fitting, in a battle of two top 15 players, No. 14 Mas bested No. 5 Bojadijiev at No. 1 singles for pair of 7-6 tiebreakers and the Blazers' 13^th Gulf South Conference title. 
 
Saint Leo enters with a 16-9 record overall and went 5-3 in the Sunshine State Conference.  The Lions finished fourth in the conference tournament, losing to Rollins 4-2 in the third-place match.  This season, No. 12-ranked Bruno Faletto is 19-3 overall at the top spot in the lineup, while Aurel Ciocanu is 18-6 in singles and 17-6 at the No. 2 position.  As a team, the Lions have gone 19-4 at the No. 1 singles position this year 16-8 at No. 2 and 18-7 at No. 3 for a 42-19 record, but have gone 36-33 at Nos. 3-6.  In doubles, the team is 36-34 at the three positions as the duo of Faletto and Leonardo Vega lead the way at No. 2 doubles with a 12-7 record.  David Perez and Ghali Mensour are 7-4 at No. 3 doubles.  
 
VSU last played Saint Leo Feb. 7, 2016, in Valdosta as the Lions won 6-3.  The teams last played in the NCAA Tournament in the first round in 2015 as Saint Leo won 5-3 in Miami Shores, Fla. 
 
West Florida is 20-6 overall this year and went 9-1 in Gulf South Conference play.  The Argos had three players named to the GSC All-Conference Team led by Bojadijiev who was named GSC Player of the Year and earned first team all-conference.  Cabrera also earned first team all-conference honors and Rafaitin was a second team selection.
 
Rollins is 18-6 overall and went 5-3 in the SSC this season.  The Tars won the third-place match with Saint Leo in the conference tournament earning a season split with the Lions.  Rollins lost a 4-2 decision to West Florida at home on Apr. 7 and the Tars haven't played VSU this season. 
 
For the Tars, Nicolo De Fraia is 20-1 this season at No. 1 singles and ranked 13^th nationally, while Atakan Gezer is 19-2 overall and Andrea Brignacca is 15-4.  In doubles, Frederick Danielson and De Fraia are 15-7 at No. 2 doubles and Gezer and Guillermo Nicolas are 17-5 at No. 3 doubles.
 
The Blazers had Mas and Nguyen earn first team all-conference honors, while Pineda and Simbozel were second team selections this season.  Mas earned his third-straight all-league honor and second-straight first team selection as the only player on the all-conference team to earn three all-league accolades. 
 
As of the last ITA ranking, Mas sits 14^th nationally as he is 10-6 in singles at the top position in the lineup and went 7-2 in GSC play this season.  Pineda is 30^th in the rankings and is 11-4 overall at the No. 4 position, while he went 9-1 in league play this season.  Nguyen is 16-2 in singles at the No. 3 slot and went a perfect 10-0 in conference play this season.  He has won 15-straight matches for the Blazers.
 
In doubles, Mas/Simbozel are 12-1 overall at the No. 2 position this season and went 8-1 in league play, while Holm/Nguyen went 6-3 at the top spot this season and 3-3 in conference play.