MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In another classic Gulf South Conference Men's Tennis Championship Match, the No. 3 Valdosta State Blazers pulled out a 4-2 victory over No. 8 West Florida to win the conference championship Saturday afternoon at Lagoon Park.
It marked the Blazers' GSC-record 14
th league championship and the fourth in the past six championships. VSU sophomore
Christian Felline clinched the championship for the Blazers with a thrilling, come-from-behind, three-set, victory at No. 5 singles.
The Championship Match was moved from 11 a.m. ET to 3 p.m. ET, due to rain in Montgomery and had a rain stoppage midway through the singles portion. VSU took the early lead winning two of the three doubles matches, but trailed in all but one of the singles matches when the rain delay came. This was the sixth-straight championship match between VSU and UWF, as VSU now is 4-2 during that span. The Blazers now has won both meetings with UWF this season, winning in Valdosta on Apr. 2, 5-2, and 4-2 today.
On Championship Saturday, Blazer top-ranked doubles tandem of seniors Yohan Ngyen and
Florian Simbozel downed UWF duo of Salvador Bandeira and Gabriel Nery, who are 11
th nationally, 6-2. VSU freshman duo of
Luca Mack and
Edward Etty won at No. 3, 7-5 to claim the point. UWF's Sendar Bojadjiev and Lluis Miralles Miro won 6-4 over freshman
Christian Felline and junior
Robert Cizek.
Simbozel, ranked No. 12 nationally, made quick work of Nicolas Lecoutre, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2 singles for a 2-0 lead. UWF pulled within 2-1 as Bojadjiev, ranked No. 39
th nationally, upset No. 5 Nguyen, 6-2, 6-3, following the delay.
The Argos (16-5) tied the match at 2-2 as Juan Cabrera handed No. 22 freshman
Christian Wedel his first loss of the season, 6-3, 6-3, but the Blazers didn't panic as Mack won in straight-sets over Bandeira, 6-4, 6-4. Felline battled back from a 6-0 loss in the first set for a 6-4 win in the second set and clinched the match with a 7-6 win in the third set, winning 8-6 in the tiebreaker.
VSU stands at 15-1 on the year and earned the GSC's automatic berth into the NCAA South Regional, scheduled for May 7-9 in Pensacola, Fla., and hosted by West Florida. The NCAA postseason field is scheduled to be announced on May 4. Check back with vstateblazers.com for who the Blazers will face when the NCAA field is announced.
