VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 19-ranked Valdosta State men's tennis team won the doubles point over National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) power Georgia Gwinnett, but came up short in singles, falling 4-1 Saturday morning.  VSU fell to 1-2 on the year, while. Georgia Gwinnett improved to 2-0.
 
The Blazers, who suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 6 Lander in the season-opener, won the doubles point off the Grizzlies on Saturday as Lander lost 7-0 to Georgia Gwinnett on Feb. 4.  
 
Out of the gates, VSU took the doubles point as the Blazers knocked off two ranked teams in NAIA as VSU's top duo of senior Yohan Nguyen and junior Florian Simbozel downed No. 2-ranked Federico Bonacia and Valentino Caratini, 7-6 and freshmen Luca Mack and Edward Etty upset No. 9-ranked duo of Jose Dugo and Gregor Hutterer, 7-6 to clinch the point.  GG opened with a win at No. 3 doubles as No. 25-ranked Daniel Czepielewski and Federico Herrera Duran won 6-4 over sophomore Robert Cizek and junior Adam Kalivoda.
 
Nguyen, ranked seventh nationally in NCAA Division II, won the first set in singles, 7-5 over No. 1-ranked Dugo and Nguyen was up 4-2 in the second set when the Grizzlies clinched the match.  
 
The Grizzlies evened the match at one as Kalivoda retired at No. 6, while Max Bertimon downed Etty, 7-6, 6-1 at No. 4 for a 2-1 lead.  No. 18-ranked Herrera Duran won at No. 5 over. Cizek, 6-1, 7-5 and Mack went the distance with Alex Gurmendi at No. 3, falling 1-6, 6-2, 1-6.  
 
The Blazers open the 2020 Gulf South Conference slate on Tuesday at 2 p.m. versus Shorter University at the VSU Tennis Complex.