VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 19 Valdosta State men's tennis team looks to rebound after a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 6 Lander on Sunday as it hosts three matches in five days, beginning Friday at 2 p.m. versus Georgia College at the VSU Tennis Complex.   
 
The Blazers and Georgia College are set for a 2 p.m. match on Friday, while they will face Georgia Gwinnett at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, and open Gulf South Conference play with Shorter Feb. 11 at 2 p.m.  
 
VSU held a 3-1 lead against No. 6 Lander on Sunday, before the Bearcats roared back for a 4-3 win in the season-opener for both teams.  No. 7-ranked (singles) senior Yohan Nguyen won both his singles and doubles matches, while junior Florian Simbozel also won his singles match at No. 2 and paired with Nguyen won in doubles.  Freshman Luca Mack won at No. 4 singles in his first collegiate dual with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Stanimir Petrovic.  The Bearcats won the match with a win by Jamieson Nathan at No. 5, over sophomore Robert Cizek, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.  
 
Georgia College is receiving votes in the preseason ITA Division II Tennis Rankings and is 1-0 on the year after a 7-0 win over Morehouse on Saturday.  Last season, the Bobcats finished 11-8, including a 4-3 win over VSU last season in Milledgeville, Ga.  
 
The Bobcats return senior All-American Matt Rogel, who was named to the 2020 Peach Belt Conference All-Preseason Team.  He is 14^th in the Southeast Region rankings in singles to begin the 2020 season. 
 
Last season versus Georgia College, the Blazers, who were ranked eighth nationally, were upset by the No. 23-ranked Bobcats after the Blazers took the early lead with a win in doubles.  Nguyen at No. 3 and Cizek at No. 6 were the only Blazers to win in singles.  
 
Georgia Gwinnett, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school went 27-0 last season and has won the national championship each of the last six seasons, including a 109-dual match winning streak.  Since the program began in 2012-13, the Grizzlies have gone 151-3 in dual matches.
 
The Grizzlies are 1-0 after a 7-0 win at Lander on Tuesday and will face the Blazers on Saturday, followed by battling West Florida on Sunday in Valdosta.
 
Georgia Gwinnett has six of the top 25 players in the ITA rankings from the fall, including Jose Dugo who is the top-ranked singles player in NAIA.  The Grizzlies have five singles players ranked in the top 19.  In doubles, three tandems are in the top 25, as Federico Bonacia and Valentino Caratini are second nationally, while Dugo and Gregor Hutterer are ninth and Federico Herrera Duran and Daniel Czepelwski are 25^th.  
 
Shorter opens the season versus Fort Valley State on Saturday, before heading to Valdosta for Tuesday's match.  The Hawks finished 3-14 last season and 0-10 in Gulf South Conference play.  VSU won 7-0 in Rome, Ga., on Mar. 15.  
 
Following the matches, the Blazers have 11 days off before they continue at home versus Rollins on Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.  VSU opens the season with its first nine matches at home through Mar. 7.