VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's tennis team finished second nationally in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranking, released this week.  There is one more ranking scheduled for release on June 1.
 
The Blazers finished the season 21-1 and earned a berth in the NCAA Division II National Semifinals, falling 4-1 to eventual national champion Barry University.  The Buccaneers finished 23-3 to earn the top spot in the rankings this week.
 
Saint Leo sits third, followed by national runner-up Columbus State and national semifinalist Indianapolis is fifth.  West Florida sits sixth, while Lee is 13^th, Auburn Montgomery is 15^th and West Alabama is 19^th among teams in the Gulf South Conference. 
 
In singles, junior Luca Mack is second in the nation as he finished the year with a 25-2 record.  Columbus State's Santiago Perez leads the rankings, while Saint Leo's Ivan Marrero is third, followed by Ouachita Baptist's (Ark.) Phil Exner is fourth and UT Tyler's (Texas) Joaquin Bianchi is fifth.   Junior Rodrigo Carvalho is 36^th in the singles poll as he was 14-2 this season, while junior Christian Wedel is 52^nd with a 21-2 record this season.
 
For doubles, Mack and Carvalho are third nationally as they finished 20-1 this season at the top spot in the Blazer lineup.  Indianapolis duo of Edgar Destouet and Tom Zeuch lead the poll, while Wayne State (Mich.) tandem of Daniel Grey and Cedric Drenth are second.  
 
Both Mack and Carvalho, with their rankings in the top ten in singles (Mack) and doubles (both), are in line to potentially earn All-America honors this season.  Both earned All-America accolades last season with Mack in both singles and doubles and Carvalho in doubles.  
 
The Blazers went undefeated until the national semifinal match against Barry as they won their GSC and program-best 15^th Gulf South Conference title this season, while they beat two top-ranked teams in the country in the same regular season for the first time in program history (Barry, Saint Leo) and reached the national semifinals for the first time since 2011.  
 
Mack, Carvalho and Wedel earned All-Gulf South Conference First Team honors this season, while Mack was named GSC Men's Tennis Player of the Year.  
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for the final rankings next week and for the ITA All-America Teams.