VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's and women's tennis teams open the 2025-26 season at the ITA Fall Regional Championships beginning Thursday at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Fla.  
 
On the men's side, the Blazers are coming off their first undefeated season in program history with their fourth national title as they won 4-2 over Washburn in the national title match in May in Altamonte Springs, Fla.  With the win, VSU went 26-0 last season and has won 42-straight dual matches dating back to the final 16 matches of the 2023-24 season where the team won their third national title and first since 2011.  With the back-to-back titles, VSU became the tenth men's tennis program in NCAA Division II to win back-to-back titles.  
 
The national title gave VSU its tenth national title as an institution and the fourth for men's tennis (2006, 2011, 2024, 2025) matches the most in program history with the VSU football program also totaling four titles (2004, 2007, 2012, 2018). Softball (2012) and baseball (1979) comprise the national titles in the NCAA-era for the Blazers.
 
Returning from the 2024-25 team is current sophomore Julien Doitteau who clinched the national title last May with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at the No. 6 spot following a long delay for lightning.  Doitteau earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, while he was named ITA South Region Rookie of the Year and Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year.  Doitteau, a Paris, France, native, finished 14-2 in singles last season for the Blazers. 
 
Junior Jerome Iaconi also returns as he was part of both national title teams for VSU.  Iaconi was 14-9 last season in singles and also played in the national championship match with his match at No. 4 singles being abandoned after VSU had clinched the title.  He is 29-13 in his two seasons in singles and 4-4 in doubles.  
 
Reigning GSC Coach of the Year and the newest Blazer inducted into the GSC Hall of Fame announced last May, head coach John Hansen, added the services of three new players for the 2025-26 season and the team will look to potentially add a few more at the semester.  Hansen continues his storied career at the helm of the Blazer men's and women's tennis programs.  
 
Hansen added the services of transfer Philipp Bosse, who is a sophomore from Bonn, Germany, as he has played at both Florida Gulf Coast and San Diego State, while Hansen added two freshmen in Jan Thissen and Emile Le Delporte of France.  
 
Looking at the ITA South Region bracket, in singles, Iaconi opens with Enrico Rosellini of Embry-Riddle on Friday at 8 a.m., while Delporte will face Barry's Yan Kodjoed.  Doitteau faces Tom Gutermann of Spring Hill College also on Friday at 8 a.m., while Thissen faces Gabriel Garay of West Alabama.   At 11 a.m. on Friday, Bosse battles Lynn's Louay Makke in the Round of 64 singles.  
 
In doubles, in the round of 32, which begins on Thursday at 10 a.m., Delporte/Thissen battle Gutermann and Filipe Grebentsov of Spring Hill College, while Bosse/Doitteau. Battle Saint Leo's tandem of Dylan Andrianaly and Thomas Buchard.
 
Click here for links to live results of the tournament for both men and women.  
 
On the women's side, the Blazers feature an entirely new roster for the 2025-26 season.  Hansen and his staff hit the transfer portal bringing in seven new players, including; two transfers from Alabama State in senior Carmelle Vial and junior Ena Arnautovic, along with Idaho senior transfer Lena Beckx, junior Eastern Illinois addition Charleigh Fay, junior Gardner-Webb product Milica Prokic, sophomore Louisiana-Lafayette transfer Ivana Castillo and junior Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) transfer Kitti Nemeth.  
 
For singles play this weekend in the round of 64, Vial battles West Alabama's Valentina Multiba on Friday at 8 a.m., while Castillo faces Nova Southeastern's Amina Sagadiyeva at 9 a.m. Friday.  At 9:30 a.m., Prokic faces Embry-Riddle's Daniela Fernandez Junquera.  Starting at 10:30 a.m., Beckx faces Nova Southeastern's Katja Markus.  
 
For doubles, Beckx and Prokic face ERAU duo of Franziska Kremerskothen and Fernandez Junquera on Thursday at 10 a.m., while Fay and Arnautovic battle ERAU's Amelie Gindl and Benedetta Sensi at 11:30 a.m., Thursday and Castillo/Vial face West Florida duo of Carlota Verdu and Sandra Recuenco Tarin also at 11:30 a.m.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for recaps of the ITA South Regional.  
 
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