VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 3 Valdosta State men's tennis team heads to the 2021 Gulf South Conference Championship as the GSC regular season champion and top overall seed.  The Blazers will face No. 8-seed Mississippi College Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET in the quarterfinal round at the Lagoon Park & O'Connor Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala.

The Blazers capped the regular season with a 7-0 victory on Friday, also in Montgomery, over Christian Brothers.  VSU finished the regular season with a 12-1 record and a perfect 9-0 mark in the GSC.  The Blazers only setback was a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to top-ranked Columbus State on Mar. 31 in Valdosta.  VSU has won 27-straight regular season matches versus GSC competition dating back to the 2018 season.  VSU downed West Florida 4-2 in the last Gulf South Conference Championship in 2019 for the program's league-best 13^th GSC Championship title.  VSU has won 13 men's conference titles for the most in league history, while UWF has won 12.  VSU or UWF have won every conference tournament title match dating back to 1995. 
 
If the Blazers defeat MC, they would then face the winner of the No. 4/5 match between Auburn Montgomery and West Alabama on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET in the semifinal round.  The 2021 Gulf South Conference Championship Match is set for Saturday, Apr. 24 at 11 a.m. ET.  VSU downed AUM 7-0 in Montgomery on Feb. 26, while it defeated West Alabama 6-1 in Pensacola, Fla., on Apr. 11. 
 
VSU enters as the defending conference tournament champion after a 4-2 victory over West Florida in 2019.  The Blazers have reached the finals of the last five conference tournaments, going 3-2 in those all against West Florida.  In 2019, current Blazer seniors Yohan Nguyen and Florian Simbozel, along with junior Robert Cizek also competed in the match.  Nguyen and Simbozel each had wins in singles, while both were part of winning doubles teams.  Simbozel needed three sets in singles for a big win at No. 2 over Juan Cabrera, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.
 
This season, Simbozel and Nguyen are the top-ranked doubles team in NCAA Division II with an 11-1 record overall and a 7-1 mark in the GSC at the top spot in the lineup.  The tandem has won six-straight matches.  Freshmen duo of Edward Etty and Luca Mack are 7-5 on the year with a 6-2 mark in GSC play. 
 
Headlining singles play is freshman Christian Wedel who is 13-0 and 9-0 in league play mostly at the No. 3 spot with a 9-0 record as he is No. 22 in the latest ITA rankings.  Simbozel, No. 12 in ITA, is 11-0 mainly at the No. 2 spot with an 8-0 record while going 3-0 at No. 1 singles.  Mack is 8-3 in singles and 7-1 in league play, while freshman Cameron Henricy Trigolos is 9-3 in singles and 8-1 in league play.  Sophomore Christian Felline is 7-1 in singles and 6-1 in GSC play.  Nguyen, ranked No. 5 in ITA, is 7-2 at the top spot in the lineup and 4-1 in league play.
 
As a team, the Blazers are 61-12 in singles and 48-6 in GSC play, while it is 27-12 in doubles and 19-8 in GSC play.  In singles, VSU is a perfect 13-0 at the No. 3 spot for the only undefeated lineup spot this season.  No. 2 singles is 11-1, while No. 5 is 10-2 and No. 1 is 11-2. 
 
The Blazers are quiet familiar with Mississippi College as the teams met on Apr. 12 in Pensacola, Fla., with VSU winning 7-0.  The Blazers won all three doubles matches and all six singles matches in straight-sets.  VSU has won the last seven matches in the series and outscored MC 39-3 during that span. 
 
VSU is 64-19 since 1991 in the GSC Championship and has reached the finals 24 times.  With VSU's 13 titles and UWF's 12, former members Tennessee-Martin and Nicholls State each have seven titles.  Delta State is the only current GSC team other than VSU and UWF to have claimed a title (1994), 4-2 over VSU.   Mississippi College enters the championship with a 3-9 record since 1991.  The Blazers and the Choctaws have met once in the conference tournament with VSU winning 7-0 in 1995 in the second round in Florence, Ala.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com Thursday evening for a complete recap of the match and click on the link to the right for the GSC Men's Tennis Championship Central page.