MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Playing against each other for the second time in ten days, the No. 3 Valdosta State men's tennis team blanked Mississippi College 4-0 in the quarterfinal round of the 2021 Gulf South Conference Championship Thursday afternoon at Lagoon Park & O'Connor Tennis Center. VSU improved to 13-1 on the year, while MC ended its season at 3-13.
The Blazers, who won their fifth-straight match, saw the upset-minded Choctaws win a doubles match as top-ranked tandem of seniors
Yohan Nguyen and
Florian Simbozel were upset by Matias Ballatore and Carlos Trujillo, 6-4, after VSU already had claimed the doubles point. Freshman
Christian Felline and junior
Robert Cizek won at No. 2 doubles, 6-0 and freshmen duo of
Edward Etty and
Luca Mack won at No. 3, 6-3. VSU downed MC 7-0 in Pensacola, Fla., on Monday, April 12, in the regular season meeting between the two teams.
Nguyen and Simbozel responded nicely in their singles matches at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Nguyen, ranked fifth nationally, won 6-2, 6-3 over Ballatore, while Simbozel, ranked 12
th nationally, defeated Brady McDaniel 6-4, 6-0, to clinch the match. Mack won at No. 4 over Shane Samyn to open singles play, 6-1, 6-1. Since VSU already had clinched the match, the rest of the singles matches were not completed.
The Blazers await the winner of the No. 4/5 matchup between Auburn Montgomery and West Alabama in the GSC Semifinals, scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The winner of Friday's match will advance to the GSC Championship Match, scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. ET.
Click on the link to the right of this story for the GSC Men's Tennis Championship Central for complete coverage of the championship.
