VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's and women's tennis teams head to the Gulf South Conference Championships beginning Saturday in Montgomery, Ala., at Lagoon Park and O'Connor Tennis Center.  Both teams earned a No. 2-seed in the championships.
 
The Blazer men's team, ranked No. 3 nationally, will battle No. 7-seed Montevallo at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning in the quarterfinal round.  Top-seed West Florida battles No. 8-seed Delta State, while No. 4-seed Lee tangles with No. 5-seed Mississippi College and No. 3-seed Auburn Montgomery meets No. 6-seed West Alabama.  
 
The women's team, ranked No. 25 nationally, faces No. 7-seed Lee for the second time in less than a week at 3:30 p.m. at the O'Connor Tennis Center, while top-seeded West Alabama battles No. 8-seed Christian Brothers.  No. 4-seed West Florida meets No. 5-seed Mississippi College and No. 3-seed Auburn Montgomery faces No. 6-seed Montevallo.  
 
Fans can the GSC Championship pages by clicking on the links to the right of this story.   There will be live stats of each match of the championship. 
 
For the men's championship, the Blazers are seeking their league-best 16^th title this season as VSU downed AUM last season 4-0 in the final.  The Blazers, West Florida or both have played in every league championship match since 1994.  West Florida has won 14 GSC titles on the men's side, while the two teams have bent seven times for the league title with VSU leading 4-3.  The Blazers are 72-18 all-time in the GSC championship since 1991 with 27 tournament title appearances (15-12).  
 
This season, the Blazers are 17-3 overall and went 8-1 in Gulf South Conference play tying West Florida for the league regular season title.  VSU leaned Wednesday that it is second in the NCAA South Region rankings and would likely host a portion of the NCAA South Regional if the NCAA championship began today.  Saint Leo is the top team in the regional rankings, followed by the Blazers, Rollins, West Florida and Barry round out the top five.  Embry-Riddle was sixth, followed by Florida Southern, Auburn Montgomery, Lee and Mississippi College rounded out the top ten.  There will be one more seeded ranking next Wednesday, prior to the NCAA Selections on Monday, May 6.  The dates for the NCAA South Regional are set for May 13-14 at two sites and the two site winners will advance to the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis National Championship, May 20-25, in Altamonte Springs, Fla., at Sanlando Park.
 
The enter the postseason league championship winners of seven-straight matches, including a 4-1 victory over Lee last Sunday and a thrilling 4-3 win at top-ranked Saint Leo a week ago Wednesday.  The Blazers have gone 11-3 this season against ranked teams.  Blazer junior Takeshi Taco is ranked sixth nationally this season in singles going 23-5 this year and 16-3 this spring while he is 8-1 in league play.  Junior Boruch Skierkier is 20^th nationally at 22-1 this year, while he is 18-0 this spring and 8-0 in GSC play.  Senior Luca Mack is 13-5 this spring and 6-2 in league play for 29^thnationally.  In doubles, Mack and senior Rodrigo Carvalho are 9-1 and seventh nationally, while Skierkier and sophomore Jan Skerbatis are 13-2 this spring and 7-1 in GSC play.  
 
The Falcons enter with a 7-11 record overall and went 3-6 in GSC play.  UM has dropped its last four matches.  VSU defeated Montevallo 7-0 on Mar. 13, 2024, in Montevallo, Ala.  In that match, the Blazers won all three doubles matches, while Skierkier dropped just one game in singles and freshman Jerome Iaconi won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5.  Four of the six singles matches went to three sets.   This season, the Falcons are led by Ryota Nakajima who is 9-8 this spring and 5-4 in GSC play in singles.  For doubles, Samuel Maia and Leonidas Lazarides are 5-4 this spring and 2-3 in league play at the top spot.  
 
VSU leads the all-time series with Montevallo 6-0 and has not dropped a point to the Falcons in the last four matches.  This is the first time the teams have played in the conference tournament as Montevallo is 1-5 all-time in the postseason tournament.  UM defeated Delta State 5-3 in 2018, before losing in the semifinals to West Florida, 5-0.  
 
On the women's side, the Blazers enter the postseason with a 10-11 record overall and went 8-2 in league play earning the league's No. 2-seed.  The eight league-wins and the ten overall wins mark the most for the Blazer women's team since the team went 17-7 overall and 9-1 in league play in 2017, also marking the Blazers last trip to the conference tournament championship match and to the NCAA postseason.  
 
The Blazer women's tennis team moved up to No. 25 nationally and currently is ninth in the NCAA South Region rankings.  In the first ranked poll, Lynn leads the way, followed by Barry, Nova Southeastern, Embry-Riddle, Tampa, West Alabama, Auburn Montgomery, Saint Leo, VSU and West Florida is tenth.   The NCAA women's tennis regional is set for May 10-11, while the national championship rounds are May 20-25 also in Altamonte Springs, Fla., at Sanlando Park.  There will be one more seeded ranking next Wednesday, prior to the selection announcement on Monday, May 6.  
 
In doubles, freshman Denisa Hanakova and junior Viktoriia Fedorova are 45^th nationally at 8-9 this year, while freshmen Natalie Rainke and Aneta Poborilova are 8-6 this spring in doubles and 4-2 in league play.  Hanakova/Fedorova are 6-2 in league play this season.  For singles, Poborilova is 13-7 this spring and 8-2 in league play, mainly at No. 3 singles where she is 12-4 this spring.  Juniors Olivia Pezo and Kayla Greco each are 11-8 in singles this spring, while Pezo is 8-1 in league play and Greco is 7-2.  
 
VSU downed Lee last Sunday 4-2 in Valdosta as the Blazers battled back from losing the doubles points with sophomore Evelyn Altmaier leveling the match at 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Hayden Smith at No. 6 singles.  Lee then won at No. 1 for a 2-1 lead, but the Blazers responded with wins from Greco, Pezo and Poborilova for the win.  
 
The Blazers lead the all-time series 12-1 and are 2-0 against the Lady Flames in the postseason conference tournament with a 4-3 win on May 2, 2019, and a 5-0 win on Apr. 20, 2017.  VSU has won four Gulf South Conference titles with its last coming in 2010 coming in a 5-1 win over West Florida.  The four conference titles are good for third all-time in GSC history and second-most of current member institutions.  West Florida leads the way with 19 titles.  
 
VSU is 46-29 all-time in the GSC Championship and has qualified for the championship match 16 times with the four titles.  The Blazers' first conference title came in 1994, followed by titles in 2005, 2008 and 2010.  VSU last reached the title match in 2017, falling to West Florida, 5-4.