MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 2 Valdosta State men's tennis team battled back from a 1-0 hole after doubles, winning all six singles matches for a 6-1 victory at No. 22 Auburn Montgomery Wednesday afternoon to keep its perfect season alive.
The Blazers improved to 13-0 overall and 8-0 in Gulf South Conference play, while Auburn Montgomery fell 12-7 overall and 5-2 in GSC play. VSU closes the conference season with No. 4 West Florida on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the VSU Tennis Complex. The Blazers hold a game lead on UWF and a chance for the outright regular season title with a win over the Argos, who have one loss in league play.
The match Wednesday began with AUM winning at No. 3 doubles as Jacq Thibault and Titouan Le Maout won 6-3 over juniors
Christian Wedel and
Pedro Cordeiro. No. 19 ranked duo of juniors
Luca Mack and
Rodrigo Carvalho won 6-4 over Giuseppe Bonaiuti and Joao Guariente, but AUM's duo of Muhamed Bedwan and Adrian Contreras pulled out a hard-fought 7-5 victory over junior
Edward Etty and senior
Christian Felline to claim the team point.
In singles, Cordeiro won convincingly at No. 6 over Thibault 6-3, 6-0, for a 1-1 score to give the Blazers the momentum they needed. Carvalho, ranked No. 70 nationally, downed Bedwan 6-3, 6-3, for a 2-1 lead, while Felline dispatched Contreras 6-1, 7-5, for a 3-1 lead. Mack, ranked No. 2 nationally, clinched the match at the top spot with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guariente. Etty kept the string of victories going with a hard-fought three-setter, splitting the first two sets in tiebreakers with Le Maout at No. 5 and then posting a 6-1 victory in the decisive set, while Wedel also needed three sets to down Bonaiuti, 6-7, 6-0, 6-3.
Earlier today, the Blazers moved from No. 3 in the national rankings to No. 2, while they also learned they were one of ten teams from the South Region under consideration for the NCAA postseason in the initial region rankings reveal. In alphabetical order, the region poll included AUM, Barry, Florida Southern, Lee, Lynn, Rollins, Saint Leo, Valdosta State, West Alabama and West Florida. Check back next Wednesday for the next rankings which will be in order of 1-10. This season, VSU will have played (including West Florida Saturday) all of the teams under consideration except Rollins and Florida Southern.
