VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's and women's tennis teams head to the 2025 Gulf South Conference Championships beginning Thursday at Lagoon Park and O'Connor Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala.  
 
The top-seeded and undefeated men's team, ranked No. 3 nationally, will face No. 8-seed Christian Brothers Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET, while the women's team, seeded seventh, will battle No. 2-seed Mississippi College at 11 a.m. ET also on Thursday.  The women's match will be at O'Connor Tennis Center, while the men's will be at Lagoon Park.  The semifinals and championship matches for both genders will be at Lagoon Park on Friday and Saturday.  
 
Fans can access the championship central webpages for both genders by clicking here for the men's and clicking herefor the women's.  The matches will have live stats and the links are listed above on each championship central webpage.  
 
On the women's side, West Alabama won the regular season title with a 9-0 record and a 14-5 mark overall.  UWA will face DSU in the quarterfinal round, while MC was 17-6 overall and 6-2 in league play and will face the Blazers (5-13, 2-6 GSC).  No. 3-seed Lee (13-2, 6-2 GSC) will face No. 6 Montevallo (7-7, 3-5 GSC), while No. 4-seed Auburn Montgomery (11-6, 5-3 GSC) will battle No. 5-seed West Florida (15-7, 5-3 GSC).  
 
The Blazers are coming off a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 36 Georgia College in the regular season finale last Friday.  In the match, VSU won the doubles point with a 6-3 win at the top spot by sophomore Natalie Rainke and senior Viktoriia Fedorova, while seniors Olivia Pezo and Kayla Greco won 7-5 at No. 2 doubles.  VSU forfeited the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches due to not enough healthy players. 
 
In singles, Rainke, ranked No. 12 nationally, won 6-2, 6-3 at the top spot and Greco won 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) at the No. 4 spot for VSU's three points.  Rainke is 15-7 this year in singles and is 10-11 in doubles, while she is 10-6 this spring and went 5-3 in GSC play in singles.  She is 7-8 this spring in doubles and went 2-5 in league play.  Greco is 8-8 this spring in singles and 4-4 in league play.  Freshman Alyssa Novoa is 59^th nationally as she is 11-7 this year in singles and 9-8 in doubles.  Novoa is 7-6 in singles this spring and went 6-2 in league play, while she is 6-9 in doubles this spring.  
 
The Blazers have won four Gulf South Conference titles on the women's side with championships in 1994, 2005, 2008 and 2010.  The Blazers are 46-30 since 1992 in the postseason tournament and have the four titles with 11 runner-up appearances.  VSU and Mississippi College have never met in the conference tournament.
 
This season, MC won 4-3 in Montgomery, Ala., on Apr. 4.  There, MC won the doubles point, winning at the top and third spot, as Rainke and Fedorova won 7-6 (7-3) at the No. 2 position over Anna Hudson and Ricio Martinez.  Novoa leveled the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 2 over No. 51-ranked Martinez and Rainke downed No. 57 Emma Roberts 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) for a 2-2 score.  VSU took a 3-2 lead with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) win by Greco at No. 5, but the Blazers lost at No. 6 and Fedorova won 6-3 over Katharina Weber, but dropped the second set 7-6 (8-6) and lost the decisive set 6-1.  
 
MC leads the series 6-4 and has won the last three matches and six of the last seven.  The Choctaws are 15^th in the latest ITA rankings.  Roberts is 16^th nationally in singles at 17-8 this year, while Martinez is 42^nd at 16-8 this year.  In doubles, Roberts and Ana De Mata are 24^th at 18-8 this year.  
 
The Blazer men's team enters with a 17-0 record and went 8-0 in GSC play.  VSU now has recorded undefeated regular seasons in two of the past three years (2023 and 2025).  VSU has won 33-straight matches dating back to last season as well.  The Blazers won the outright Gulf South Conference regular season title in 2025 earning the top seed in the conference tournament.  The Blazers have won a GSC-record 16 Gulf South Conference titles as it has won the last two and played in the conference championship match each year since 2015.  Moreover, VSU or West Florida or both have been in the title match every year since 1994.   VSU only missed the title match twice in 2013 and 2014.  The Blazers have been league runner-up 13 times, while the team is 76-20 all-time in the GSC postseason championship.  
 
This season, the Blazers enter No. 3 nationally according to the ITA poll, as the only undefeated team in NCAA Division II Men's Tennis, while defeating both No. 1 West Florida and No. 2 Barry this season.  In singles, senior Takeshi Taco is No. 3 nationally with a 19-1 record this year, while senior Boruch Skierkier is No. 4 nationally with a 24-3 record.  Senior Edgar Destouet is No. 22 nationally at 22-1 this year.  He is a perfect 16-0 this spring.  In doubles, Destouet and graduate student Arthur Bord are seventh nationally at 16-4, while Taco and senior Xaveam Van Wijk are ninth nationally at 14-3.  Junior Jan Skerbatis is 14-3 in singles this year and 14-6 in doubles with Skierkier, while sophomore Jerome Iaconi is 12-8 in singles and freshman Julien Doitteau is 10-2.  
 
The Blazers won 4-0 over Christian Brothers in Montgomery, Ala., on Mar. 24.  Only singles was played due to rainy conditions.  VSU won each of the top four matches with Taco winning 6-3, 6-1 at the top spot, while Destouet won 6-4, 6-2 and No. 2.  Iaconi won 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3 and Van Wijk won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4.  VSU is 14-0 against Christian Brothers since 2011.
 
On Wednesday will be the first public ranking in order for the NCAA Region rankings as the previous ranking was alphabetical and teams under consideration.  VSU is 7-0 against the teams in the alphabetical South Region ranking from last week.  Along with VSU, West Florida, Lee and Mississippi College all were under consideration.