ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – The No. 3 Valdosta State men's tennis team posted a 4-0 victory over No. 42 Jefferson (Pa.) Tuesday afternoon in the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship Round of Sixteen.
The Blazers (23-3), who are the No. 2-seed in the championship, now will face No. 10-seed Charleston (W.Va.) on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the national quarterfinal round. The Blazers have won 13-straight matches and have not dropped a team point in the last six matches dating back to a 4-1 win over Lee on Apr. 21. Charleston, ranked No. 16 nationally, upset No. 13-ranked and seventh-seed Azusa Pacific (Calif.) handing the Cougars their only loss of the season Tuesday afternoon, 4-2.
VSU used wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, outscoring the Rams 12-1 in the two matches to earn the team point. At No. 2 doubles, juniors
Takeshi Taco and
Xaveam Van Wijk defeated Mario Antonio and Johary Rabetrano, 6-0, while junior
Boruch Skierkier and sophomore
Jan Skerbatis, ranked 42
nd nationally, won 6-1 over Antonio Mateos Melenchon and Jules Thibault. Blazer top duo of seniors
Rodrigo Carvalho and
Luca Mack, ranked sixth nationally, held a 4-2 lead when the team point was clinched.
Heading to singles, the momentum continued for the red and black as Skierkier, ranked 23
rd nationally, won by retirement (6-1, 1-0) over Antonio for a 2-0 lead. Senior
Christian Wedel posted a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles for a 3-0 lead and Taco, ranked seventh nationally, won 6-1, 6-1 over Thibault for the 4-0 win. Jefferson finished its season at 18-6. Blazer freshman
Jerome Iaconi held a 6-1, 4-1 lead on Mateos Melenchon at No. 5 and Carvalho was leading 6-3, 3-2 at No. 4 singles over Enrique Soto Ballester.
With the win, the Blazers improved to 59-26 all-time in the NCAA postseason and qualified for the national quarterfinals for the second-straight season and third time since 2016.
There will be live stats of Wednesday's match at vstateblazers.com on the men's tennis schedule page. The NCAA made changes to the remainder of the championship due to the extreme temperatures forecast for the Orlando area the rest of the week. Wednesday's matches, along with Friday's semifinals and Saturday's championship all will be at 9 a.m., local time.
