VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 3-ranked and top-seeded Valdosta State men's tennis team opened the 2024 NCAA South Region #1 with a 4-0 win over No. 8-seed Spring Hill College Monday morning. The Blazers improved to 21-3 overall this season, while SHC ended its season at 18-9.
The Blazers now will face No. 4-seed Barry University on Tuesday at 1 p.m., with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship rounds scheduled for May 21-25 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the match at vstateblazers.com on the NCAA South Region Championship page or by
clicking here. Barry defeated No. 5-seed West Florida, 4-1 in the other match Monday morning.
This marked the second-straight year the Blazers and the Badgers met in the first round of the regional. The matches this year were moved to 8 a.m. ET due to the threat of inclement weather as the day progressed Monday. In front of a good contingent of Blazer fans, VSU won the doubles point in quick fashion for the early lead. Sixth-ranked senior duo of
Luca Mack and
Rodrigo Carvalho won 6-1 over Paul-Phillip Kern. The Badger tandem won the opening game of the set and Carvalho/Mack then won six-straight games for the victory.
At No. 3 doubles, Blazer duo of junior
Boruch Skierkier and sophomore
Jan Skerbatis, ranked 42
nd nationally, dispatched Rafael Lima and Philip Bosman 6-3 to claim the team point. Juniors
Takeshi Taco and
Xaveam Van Wijk held a 5-2 lead at No. 2 doubles when the point was clinched.
Mack, ranked 26
th nationally in singles, won by retirement at the top spot over Bosman for a 2-0 lead, while Taco, ranked seventh nationally, won 6-1, 6-2 over Kern at No. 3 for a 3-0 lead and senior
Christian Wedel clinched the match at No. 6 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over William Cain.
VSU improved to 55-26 all-time in the NCAA postseason in the 29
th appearance in program history. The 29 appearances are tied for second-most all-time and the 55 victories are fifth-most in D2 history. Barry also is in its 29
th postseason and is 101-23 all-time in postseason history. VSU defeated Barry earlier this season at Barry, 4-3 on Feb. 10, 2024. Barry leads the all-time series with VSU 20-10, but the Blazers have won three of the last four meetings in the series.
