VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's and women's tennis teams open the 2023 season Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the VSU Tennis Courts versus Georgia College.  
 
The Blazer men's team enters the season sixth in the Preseason ITA Collegiate Tennis rankings which were released last month.  Barry University leads the poll, followed by Columbus State, Saint Leo, Flagler and Wayne State (Mich.) round out the top five.  VSU is sixth followed by Indianapolis, West Florida, Hawaii Pacific and Embry-Riddle is tenth.  Auburn Montgomery and West Alabama are among others receiving votes.  This season, the Blazers are scheduled to play Barry, Columbus State, Saint Leo, West Florida, Lynn (12^th), along with AUM and West Alabama among teams either ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll.  
 
Blazer junior Luca Mack enters the season ranked No. 2 nationally after reaching the championship match of the 2022 NCAA Division II ITA Championships this past October in Rome, Ga.  He dropped a heartbreaking three-set match to Columbus State's Santiago Perez, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6.  Mack finished the fall season 9-1 and dropped just three sets all fall.  Perez is the top ranked player in the ITA rankings, while Teodor Zlatar of Harding (Ark.) is third, followed by Alexander Leischner of Point Loma (Calif.) and Joaquin Benoit of North Georgia rounds out the top five.
 
Along with Mack, Barry's Alejandro Ibanez Gallego is 11^th, while Saint Leo's Tao Castillo is 18^th and Barry's Alejandro Palacios is 20^th among players ranked from the South Region.  In addition, Delta State's Emiliano Elararraraz is 22^nd, followed by West Florida's Facundo Bermejo (27^th), Embry-Riddle's Elias Walter (31^st) and Saint Leo's Vincent Thiel (37^th) round out players from the region in the top 40.  Mississippi College's Joe Jarvis is 41^st, followed by Barry's Alessandro Giuliato at 42^nd, Giuseppe Bonaiuti is 44^th, while West Florida's Sebastian Sotelo is 47^th in the top 50.   In the South Region rankings behind Mack at the top spot, Blazer junior Christian Wedel is 18^th in the and sophomore Lamar Bartley is 19^th.  In doubles, Mack and Bartley are ninth in the region.  
 
The Blazers return just about everyone from last season's team that went 14-7 overall and 8-1 in Gulf South Conference play. VSU lost 4-3 in the first round of the NCAA postseason.  Head coach John Hansen added the services of West Florida transfer junior Pedro Cordeiro this season as he went 12-2 last year and 5-0 in GSC play.  Mack and Rodrigo Carvalho were named ITA All-America in 2022 as Mack earned the honor in both singles and doubles, while Carvalho was All-America in doubles.  Mack and Carvalho finished ranked No. 1 nationally in doubles at 16-8 and went 10-8 in the spring.  The duo was 5-2 in GSC play.  They became the 32^nd and 33^rd different Blazers to earn ITA All-America honors and the 52^nd and 53^rd selections for VSU since 1989.  VSU has had at least one ITA All-America honoree each of the last seven playing seasons.  In addition to the players mentioned above, also returning for the Blazers this season are graduate student Swann Flohr, senior Christian Felline, along with junior Edward Etty.  
 
On the women's side, the Blazers feature a mix of returning and a number of new players for the 2023 season.  Senior Julia Saving, along with junior Natalie Kohoutkova and sophomore Anastasiia Vorobiova return, along with five talented newcomers.  Freshmen Evelyn Altmaier, Kayla Greco and Jorja Reynolds joint the team, along with sophomore LSU transfer Shaye Longwell and junior Hillsborough Community College transfer Olivia Pezo.  
 
In the fall, Pezo reached the round of 32 at the ITA National Championships with a win over Polina Ligay of Rollins in the round of 64, 6-2, 6-2, before falling to Nova Southeastern's Eva Goncharov, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 10-4. Vorobiova reached the quarterfinal round of the consolation bracket, before falling 7-5, 6-4 to Hardija Vidnere of West Alabama.  In doubles, Kohoutkova/Pezo won in the roun of 16 over Emma Koch/Danielle Day of Spring Hill and lost to Matina Ujdur/Ashleigh Simes of Lee, 8-1.  
 
Last season the women's team finished 8-14 overall and 6-4 in GSC play, reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament. 
 
The Georgia College men's team enters with a 1-0 record after a 7-0 victory over Emmanuel (Ga.) on Saturday.  GC won at the top spot and the third spot in doubles to clinch the point.  GC had straight-set victories in singles at Nos. 3-6, while Emmanuel pushed the top two singles matches to three sets.  For the Bobcats, Karol Malirz is 14^th in the Southeast Region ranking, while Gabriel Cizek is 16^th as he is the brother of former Blazer Robert Cizek. 
 
VSU has won the last two meetings in the series with GC and seven of the last nine.  The Blazers won 6-1 in Milledgeville, Ga., on Feb. 1, 2022, to open the season.  This marks the fourth of the last five years VSU has opened the season with Georgia College.
 
 The Georgia College women's team also defeated Emmanuel 6-1 on Saturday.  GC won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles, while getting wins at the top five spots in singles, losing a combined seven games in the five singles matches.  Emmanuel won at No. 6 singles.  Sofia Shing is ninth in the ITA South Region rankings for singles, while she and Chiara Santoro are ninth in doubles in the region.  
 
VSU is 4-5 in the last nine meetings with GC on the women's side as the Bobcats won the last meeting 4-3 in Milledgeville, Ga., to open the 2022 season.  VSU won 4-1 in Valdosta on Feb. 7, 2020, marking the first win for the Blazers since the 2017 season.
 
Following the matches on Tuesday, the Blazers return to action on Feb. 28 for a women's match at home versus No. 2 Nova Southeastern, while the men's team doesn't play again until Mar. 4 at home versus No. 12 Lynn.