VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 2 Valdosta State men's tennis team won the outright Gulf South Conference regular season title with a 6-1 victory over No. 4 West Florida Monday afternoon at the VSU Tennis Complex.
 
The Blazers improved to 14-0 overall and 9-0 in GSC play and now will be the top-seed in the upcoming Gulf South Conference Championship Apr. 20-22 in Montgomery, Ala., at Lagoon Park & O'Connor Tennis Center.  Shorter has clinched the No 8-sed and will be who VSU will face in the first round.  UWF sits in second at 7-2 in league play and 14-3 overall as there are still some matches left to be played with seeding implications which could impact the Argos' seed.  
 
VSU got off to a hot start winning all three doubles matches as senior Christian Felline and sophomore Lamar Bartley downed Sebastian Rondon and Bernardo Costa, 6-2, at No. 2, while the upset of the match came at the top spot as No. 19-ranked duo of Rodrigo Carvalho and Luca Mack upended No. 2-ranked UWF tandem of Tomas Descarrega and Facundo Bermejo, 6-3. Prior to that match, the UWF duo was 18-3 this season.  VSU's No. 3 duo of juniors Pedro Cordeiro and Christian Wedel defeated Albin Ekenros and Adam Svensson, 6-4.  
 
With the momentum from doubles play, the Blazers headed into singles on an unseasonably cool and breezy day at the VSU Tennis Complex.  Felline won at No. 5 singles for a 2-0 lead for the red and black with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Rondon.  Mack, who is No. 2 nationally, downed No. 39 Descarrega, 6-4, 6-4, for a 3-0 lead.  
 
VSU was sitting at 3-0 for a long time as Carvalho came up just short in a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) loss to No. 18 Bermejo for a 3-1 score.  Cordeiro clinched the match at No. 6, with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Mateo Martinez.  Wedel needed three sets to down Santiago Kearney, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 and Bartley also needed three set to defeat Costa, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.
 
The Blazers close out the 2023 regular season with Palm Beach Atlantic visiting on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the VSU Tennis Complex.