VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 37 Valdosta State women's tennis team battled back from a 3-0 deficit for a thrilling 4-3 victory over visiting Florida Southern Friday afternoon at the VSU Tennis Complex.  The Blazers leveled their record at 8-8 this season, while FSC fell to 7-11 on the year.
 
The Mocs got off to the hot start winning Nos. 2 and 3 doubles by equal scores of 6-3 as junior Viktoriia Fedorova and freshman Denisa Hanakova, ranked No. 29 nationally, were deadlocked at 4-4 with No. 32 duo of Kennedi Brown and Kelly Klaren when the point was decided for doubles.
 
In singles, No. 13-ranked Laia Pasini of FS won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 over freshman Natalie Rainke for a 2-0 lead and Florida Southern pushed the lead to 3-0 with a win at No. 3 as Olivia Bryant downed freshman Aneta Poborilova 6-1, 6-2, but the Blazers wouldn't sweat the deficit.
 
From there, the red and black dug deep and began the rally with a straight-set victory junior Kayla Greco at No. 4 over Ronja Scheuermann, 6-3, 6-4 and junior Oliva Pezo at No. 5 over Brown, 6-4, 6-4 for a 3-2 deficit.  With renewed momentum, Hanakova battled by from a first set loss at No. 2 to Beatriz Costa (6-3) winning the final two sets 6-4, 6-4 for a 3-3 score and Fedorova, who also dropped the first set at 7-5 to No. 6 Vivien Charvatova, rallied for a 6-0 win and a 6-4 win to clinch the come-from-behind victory.
 
The Blazers continue at home on Saturday at 10 a.m. versus No. 16 Tampa at the VSU Tennis Complex.  Links to live stats of the match can be found at vstateblazers.com on the women's tennis schedule page.