MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 4-ranked Valdosta State men's tennis team ran its winning streak to 29 matches dating back to last season with a 6-1 win at Auburn Montgomery Saturday. The Blazers improved to 13-0 this season and 7-0 in Gulf South Conference play. The VSU women's team lost 4-3 in a heartbreaker to No. 34 AUM.
In doubles, the VSU men's team made quick work of the Warhawks (6-8, 2-4 GSC) to claim the team point, dropping just four games in the three matches. Graduate student
Arthur Bord and senior
Edgar Destouet won 6-2 over No. 29-ranked Giuseppe Bonaiuti and Jami Savolainen, while junior
Jan Skerbatis and senior
Boruch Skierkier won 6-1 at No. 2, as did senior
Xaveam Van Wijk and sophomore
Matteo Castellazzi at No. 3 over Augustin Wallert and Mark Nawa.
Skierkier, ranked No. 8 nationally, won 6-0, 6-4 at No. 1 singles over Bonaiuti who was ranked 27
th, for a 2-0 lead. AUM pulled within 2-1 with a win at No. 3 singles by Dominik Vorbank over junior
Jerome Iaconi, 6-4, 6-1, but freshman
Julien Doitteau pushed the lead to 3-1 with a win at No. 5, 6-3, 6-1, over Wallert. Skerbatis sealed the win for the Blazers at No. 4 as he downed Raphael Pertusier, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
No. 19-ranked Destouet needed three sets at No. 2 singles over Savolainen in comeback fashion, falling 4-6 in the first match, but winning the second 6-3 and the third in a 7-6 thriller. With the match in hand, Bord and Nawa split the first two sets at No. 6 with Bord winning 6-4 and Nawa winning 6-3. In the super tiebreaker, Bord won 12-10.
The Blazers now will turn their sights to a makeup match against West Alabama in Pensacola, Fla., on Apr. 10 at 3 p.m. ET, to close out Gulf South Conference play. From there, VSU will face Florida Southern on April 12 in Valdosta and then at Embry-Riddle on Apr. 15 and close the regular season with a makeup match on Apr. 18 in Valdosta versus Georgia College.
For the women's match, AUM (9-5, 3-2 GSC) won all three doubles matches, but freshman
Alyssa Novoa and senior
Olivia Pezo battled back and lost 7-5 at No. 2 to Nahia Izco and Melissa Yakup Pour in a very tight match.
AUM's Estefania Garcia won 7-5, 6-3 at No. 1 over Blazer sophomore and No. 14-ranked
Natalie Rainke for a 2-0 lead. The Blazers (3-9, 2-4 GSC) won the next three matches for a 3-2 score as Novoa won 6-2, 7-6 (11-9) at No. 2 over Yakup Pour and senior
Viktoriia Fedorova won 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4 over Ksenija Vujacic, while senior
Kayla Greco won 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 at No. 5 over Ane Ibarra.
AUM tied the match at 3-3 with a win at No. 3 singles as Izco downed senior Pezo, 6-4, 6-4, while AUM's Sofia Neri defeated senior
Valentina Jimenez 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6 for the clinching match.
The Blazer women's team returns home to host Flagler on Apr. 9 at 2 p.m. at the VSU Tennis Complex, before the match vs. West Alabama on Apr. 10. Along with the matches versus Florida Southern, at Embry-Riddle and Georgia College, the women's team also faces Tampa in Valdosta on Sunday, Apr. 13.
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