VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State women's tennis team opens the 2021 Gulf South Conference Championship as the No. 5-seed and will battle No. 4-seed and No. 23 Auburn Montgomery Thursday at 11 a.m. ET at Lagoon Park & O'Connor Tennis Center. 
 
The Blazers are 6-8 on the year and finished the GSC regular season at 6-4 after a thrilling 4-3 victory last Friday over Christian Brothers in Montgomery, Ala.  In the match, VSU won the doubles point as freshman Rachelle Starreveld and junior Hera Bjork Brynjarsdottir won at No. 2, 6-4, after the teams split at Nos. 1 and 3.  In singles, Starreveld won at No. 3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, to clinch the match.  Junior Birte Langenstein won at No. 4, 6-1, 6-4, while Bjork won at No. 6, 6-1, 6-3. 
 
With the victory, VSU finished in a four-way tie for third with Mississippi College, Auburn Montgomery and Lee.  VSU won against Lee, and lost to both MC and AUM as the Blazers received the No. 5-seed in the tournament.  Mississippi College earned the No. 3-seed, while AUM is No. 4 and Lee is No. 6.  West Alabama is the top-seed, while West Florida is the No. 2-seed.  Christian Brothers fell to the No. 7-seed and Montevallo is the No. 8-seed.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com Thursday afternoon for a complete recap of the match and statistics.  Click on the link to the right of this story for the GSC Women's Tennis Championship Central page. 
 
This season, the Blazers are 34-47 in singles and 32-28 in GSC play, while they are 21-21 in doubles and 16-14 in GSC action.  In singles, senior Estee Widdershoven is 8-5 and 7-3 in GSC play, while Starreveld is 7-5 overall and 7-2 in GSC play and Langenstein is 6-6 and 5-3 in league play.  For doubles, Brynjarsdottir and Starreveld are 6-3 overall and 5-2 in league play at the No. 2 spot, while Widdershoven and freshman Eva Rivoal are 5-5 at the top spot and 4-4 in league play.
 
VSU is has qualified for the GSC Championship tournament every year since 1983 and has won four conference titles in 1994, 2005, 2008 and 2010.  The Blazers have a 44-26 record all-time in the conference tournament and have qualified for the championship match 16 times, most recently in both 2016 and 2017.  Since 2010, VSU has won the GSC title once (2010) and qualified for the championship match an additional five times (2012-2014, 2016-17). 
 
AUM won 5-2 in Montgomery on Feb. 26 in the regular season meeting.  The Warhawks have won five of the last six meetings in the series versus the Blazers.  VSU's lone win came in 2020 on Mar. 3, with a 4-3 victory in Valdosta.  Starreveld on 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2 singles for VSU over Tonja Foessmeier and Langenstein won at No. 3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 over Alba De La Torre.  Brynjarsdottir and junior Amelia Cornwell won at No. 3 doubles over Julia Enderink and Sofia Mustre, 7-5, for the lone doubles victory for the Blazers.
 
This is the first time the teams have met in the conference tournament.  This also marks the first appearance for AUM in the conference tournament since joining the league.   If the Blazers were to win Thursday, they would battle the winner of the No. 1/8 matchup between West Alabama and Montevallo on Friday at 11 a.m.
 
The Warhawks enter with a 9-6 mark and a 6-4 league record.  Mustre is a team-best 10-3 in singles and 7-2 in league play.  Isabella Pinto is 7-3 and 4-2 in league play, while going 7-1 at No. 6 singles.  As a team, AUM is 44-40 in singles and 30-24 in GSC play, while the team is 28-14 in doubles and 19-8 in league play.  Enderink/Mustre are 8-4 in doubles and 5-3 in league play at the No. 3 spot, while Alba De La Torre and Foessmeier are 9-5 over and 6-3 at No. 2 doubles, while Maria Casas and Sofia Navarro are 8-5 at the top spot and 6-2 in league play.