VALDOSTA, Ga. – Fresh off its thrilling 5-2 victory over then-No. 4 West Florida, the now-No. 4 Valdosta State men's tennis team heads to Pensacola, Fla., to battle Mississippi College and West Alabama, Apr. 11-12. 
 
The Blazers enter the weekend with a 9-1 record overall and a perfect 6-0 mark in the Gulf South Conference and will face West Alabama (6-6, 4-2 GSC) Sunday at 10:30 a.m. ET., at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of West Florida.  VSU then will face Mississippi College (1-8, 1-3 GSC) on Monday at 11 a.m. ET. 
 
With the victory over UWF last week, the Blazers are 6-0 in GSC play with three matches remaining, while UWF is 6-1.  Delta State sits third in the standings with a 4-2 record.  VSU will battle Christian Brothers, Apr. 16 in Montgomery, Ala., in a makeup match from earlier in the season.  The 2021 Gulf South Conference Championship is set for Apr. 22-24 in Montgomery, Ala., at Lagoon Park & O'Connor Tennis Center.
 
VSU went 1-1 last week, facing two top five teams with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 1 Columbus State and the 5-2 victory over the Argos.  Against Columbus State, the Cougars won the doubles point for the early lead, but VSU was up to the challenge as sophomore Christian Felline tied the match with a win at No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-2, while senior Florian Simbozel won at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-4 and freshman Christian Wedel won at No. 3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 over Tommaso Schold who had not lost all season.  VSU and CSU went 3-3 in singles as the doubles point turned out to be the difference in the match with the Cougars winning two of the three doubles matches.  VSU senior duo of Yohan Nguyen and Simbozel won at the top spot, 6-4.
 
With a quick turnaround two days later, UWF came out and won the doubles point as Nguyen/Simbozel won at the top spot, 6-1, for the only doubles victory for the Blazers.  Freshmen duo of Luca Mack and Edward Etty dropped a hard-fought match at No. 2 doubles with Serdar Bojadjiev and Lluis Miralles Mir, 7-5.  Trailing 1-0, the Blazers dug deep in singles and, in another classic matchup with UWF, VSU won five of the six singles matches for the victory.  Freshman Cameron Henricy Trigolos won at No. 6 to clinch the team victory with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory. 
 
Simbozel and Wedel were named GSC Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively, while Simbozel was named ITA Division II Men's National Player of the Week, marking the second time a Blazer has earned the honor this season (Wedel, Mar. 17). 
 
VSU moved to No. 4 in the newest ITA Collegiate Rankings which were released Thursday afternoon.  In addition, the doubles tandem of Nguyen and Simbozel are ranked No. 1 nationally, while Nguyen is No. 5 in singles and Simbozel is No. 12 nationally in singles.  Wedel is 22^nd nationally in singles. 
 
The Choctaws have dropped their past six matches and will face Blue Mountain College and No. 4 UWF on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, before battling VSU on Saturday.  MC is 9-38 this season in singles as Maksym Konovalov is 4-4 in singles and 3-1 in GSC play to lead the team.  In doubles, the Choctaws are 5-18 for the season and Joe Jarvis and Brady McDaniel are 3-3 overall and 2-1 in league play to lead the team. 
 
VSU has won the last six matches in the series and outscored MC 32-3 during that span.  The Blazers won 4-0 in Pensacola in the last meeting on Apr. 12, 2019. 
 
UWA will face Shorter and Delta State on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, before facing VSU on Sunday. The Tigers dropped a 6-1 decision to West Florida on Monday.  Nuutti Jokinen won at No. 4 singles, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 for the lone UWA point.  The top two singles positions went to three sets, while the other four were in straight-sets. 
 
Nguyen and UWA's Chris Bulus are both in the top five nationally in singles as Bulus is third according to the latest rankings as it will be a match to watch when the two teams meet this weekend.
 
VSU has won 11 of the last 14 matches in the series and has won seven-straight dating back to a 5-2 victory in Pensacola, Fla., on May 3, 2014.  VSU won the last meeting between the two teams on Mar. 30, 2019, in Valdosta with a 5-2 victory.