VALDOSTA, Ga. – The top-seed Valdosta State men's tennis team is scheduled to open the 2024 NCAA South Region #1 on Monday at 10 a.m. at the VSU Tennis Complex versus No. 8-seed Spring Hill College. 
 
Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the matches at vstateblazers.com on the men's tennis schedule page.  There also is a Regional Championship Central webpage and can be accessed by clicking here.  
 
VSU will host its portion of the regional for the second-straight season as it also faced Spring Hill last season, downing the Badgers 4-0 in the opening round.  The Blazers then won the sub-regional with a 4-1 win over West Florida to advance to the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship rounds at the USTA Training Center in Orlando, Fla.  The Blazers won 4-0 over No. 16-seed Fairmont State, 4-1 over No. 9-seed Cameron and lost 4-1 to eventual national champion and No. 4-seed Barry in the national semifinals.  
 
Ironically, this season both Barry and West Florida are in the Blazers' portion of the regional as the South Region arguably is the toughest regional in the country.  VSU enters the regional third nationally in the latest ITA rankings, while Barry is fourth and West Florida is seventh.  Spring Hill is not ranked.  For Sub-Regional Two, ITA top-ranked Saint Leo is the No. 2-seed, and will host the other half, with Rollins (5^th), Embry Riddle (11^th) and Florida Southern (15^th).
 
The Blazers are coming off its 16^th Gulf South Conference Championship title which is the most in league history. VSU won 4-0 over Montevallo, 4-0 over West Alabama and 4-0 over Mississippi College to claim the title.  VSU is 20-3 on the season and tied for the Gulf South Conference regular season crown with a 8-1 record.  
 
Individually, junior Takeshi Taco enters the regional sixth nationally in singles and 25-5 overall, while he is 14-9 this year in doubles.  Taco is 18-3 this spring in singles and went 8-0 in league play, while he is 10-9 in 2024 in doubles and went 5-3 in league play.  Junior Boruch Skierkier is 23^rd nationally in singles at 25-1 this year, while he is 20-4 in doubles.  This spring, Skierkier is a perfect 21-0 and went 8-0 in GSC play.  He and sophomore teammate Jan Skerbatis are 42^nd nationally in doubles at 16-3.  The duo this spring are 15-3 and went 7-1 in league play.  
 
Senior Luca Mack is 26^th nationally in singles, while he and senior Rodrigo Carvalho are sixth nationally in doubles. Mack is 13-5 this season in singles and is 18-2 overall in doubles, while going 10-0 with Carvalho at the top spot. He also played doubles this season with senior Christian Wedel and were 8-2.  Wedel is 18-4 this year in singles, while freshman Jerome Iaconi is 14-2 in singles. 
 
The Blazers are making their 29^th appearance in the postseason and are 54-26 all-time with two titles (2006 and 2011), along with three runner-up finishes and one third-place finish.  The 29 appearances are tied for second all-time with Barry and Lander, while Rollins leads the way with 36 trips.  The 54 victories in the postseason are the fifth-most all-time in D2 and second in the GSC behind West Florida's 74 victories.  This will be the tenth-straight year VSU has qualified for the postseason.
 
Spring Hill College enters as the winners of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and 18-8 overall and went 12-0 in SIAC play.  The Badgers earned the automatic qualifier last season, falling 4-0 to VSU in the regional first round a year ago.  SHC is led this spring by Hugo Blasco Granell who is 13-5 in singles and went 6-0 in league play.  Philip Bosman is 12-7 this spring and 9-0 in league play at the top spot in the lineup.  Tom Gutermann leads the team with a 16-8 record overall and went a team-best 11-0 in league play.  In doubles, Paul-Phillip Kern and Gutermann are 14-9 this spring and went 8-1 in league play to lead the team.  Charles Wallace and Blasco Granell are 15-6 this year and went 9-0 in league play.  This is Spring Hill's second year of earning a bid to the NCAA postseason.
 
Last season, the Blazers won the doubles point 6-2 and 6-1, while the Blazers dropped just ten games in the six singles matches combined with two 6-0, 6-0 wins at Nos. 1 and 6 in the first round of the postseason.
 
Barry enters the regional after winning the Sunshine State Conference title over Saint Leo.  The Buccaneers are 14-6 this season after defeating Florida Southern (4-0), Rollins (4-1) and Saint Leo (4-1) in the conference tournament. Barry lost 4-3 at home to VSU on Feb. 10 as Skierkier clinched the match at No. 4 singles with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 14 Tim Riedel.  VSU had swept the doubles matches.  VSU battled back from a 3-2 deficit with a win at No. 2 by Carvalho (4-6, 6-3, 7-5) over No. 10 Joao Ferreira before Skierkier's victory to clinch the match. 
 
This season, Ferreira currently sits sixth nationally in singles at 14-7 in singles, while Adam Lynch is ninth nationally at 17-7 this season, while David Rieme is 58^th nationally at 12-4.  In doubles, Riedel and Bastien Rieme are 18^thnationally to lead the team at 14-3 this season, while Ferreira and David Rieme are 22^nd nationally at 8-6 this year.   Barry is 100-23 all-time in the NCAA postseason with seven national titles, seven runner-up finishes, three third place finishes and fourth twice.  
 
If both Barry and VSU advance to Tuesday's 1 p.m. match up, it would mark the 31^st meeting in series history as Barry leads 20-10.  VSU has won three of the last four meetings in the series with Barry winning 4-1 in the national semifinals last season after VSU won 4-3 during the regular season a year ago.  
 
West Florida enters the regional making its 26^th appearance and is 74-21 all-time with four titles, two runner-up finishes and six third place finishes.  The Argos are 17-5 overall and went 8-1 in GSC play this season tying with the Blazers.  Nationally speaking, Sebastian Rondon is 25^th in the latest ITA rankings in singles as he is 21-5 on the year.  Sebastian Sotelo is 37^th nationally and is 16-7 in singles this season. 
 
If UWF defeats Barry and VSU wins versus Spring Hill, it would be the third match up between VSU and UWF this season on Tuesday.  VSU won 4-2 in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 17, 2024, at the ITA Indoor Nationals, while UWF won 4-3 in Pensacola, Fla., on Mar. 30.  VSU battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the match before Rondon handed Mack a 7-5, 4-6, 3-6 loss at the top spot to win the match for the Argos.