VALDOSTA, Ga. – The top-seeded Valdosta State men's tennis team opens the 2025 NCAA Division II National Championship Round of Sixteen on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. versus No. 16-seed St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.) at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. 
 
Fans can access links to live streaming and live stats of the matches by clicking here for the championship.  Check back with vstateblazers.com following each Blazer match for a complete recap and results.
 
VSU enters with a 22-0 record overall and went 8-0 in Gulf South Conference play this season as the Blazers won their Gulf South Conference-best 17^th league title.  The Blazers have won 38-straight matches dating back to the final 16 victories of last season en route to the program's third national title in 2024.  
 
The Blazers earned the top overall seed and are the No. 1 team in the country in the latest ITA rankings.  South Region foe Barry is the No. 2-seed, while UT Tyler (Texas) is the No. 3-seed and Lubbock Christian (Texas) is the No. 4-seed.  Grand Valley State (Mich.) is the No. 5-seed, followed by Azusa Pacific (Calif.), Washburn (Kan.), University of Indianapolis (Ind.), Charleston (W.Va.) and Concordia Irvine (Calif.) rounds out the top ten seeds.  North Georgia sits 11^th, followed by Columbus State (Ga.), Queens (N.Y.), Edinboro (Pa.), Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) and St. Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.).
 
If the Blazers were to win Tuesday, they would face the winner of the No. 8-seed UIndy versus No. 9-seed Charleston match on Wednesday, May 21 at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinals.   VSU was the No. 2-seed last season in the NCAA National Championships as it won the program's third national title with a thrilling 4-3 win over No. 1-seed Flagler College last May.  The match came down to the final court as former Blazer Christian Felline battled back from a 1-2 deficit in the third set to win five of the last six games to claim the title. 
 
In 2023, the Blazers also were undefeated heading into the national championship rounds and earned the top overall seed as they lost to eventual national champion Barry University in the national semifinals.   
 
Overall for the NCAA Championships, VSU is 63-28 all-time (.692) and is 14-7 against the current field with a 3-0 record against Columbus State, a 2-0 record against Queens (N.Y.), a 1-0 record against Charleston, a 4-2 record against Ouachita Baptist and a 4-5 record against Barry.  This marks the Blazers' 30^th appearance in the postseason tournament and the 16^th appearance at the final championship site and third-straight. 
 
This marks 11^th-straight year VSU has qualified for the NCAA postseason either regionals or the final site.  If VSU were to win the national title this year, it would be the tenth time of a repeat champion since 1963 (Cal State LA, UC Irvine, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Chapman, Lander, BYU-Hawaii, West Florida, Armstrong Atlantic State and Barry).  
 
The Blazers are led this season by senior Takeshi Taco who is No. 2 nationally in singles with a 22-1 record overall.  He is fifth nationally in doubles with senior teammate Xaveam Van Wijk with a 17-4 record this year.  Taco won the ITA Fall National Championship and earned All-Gulf South Conference first team honors, while earning GSC Top Ten accolades and was named VSU Male Athlete of the Year for 2024-25.  Taco earned ITA All-America honors in singles in 2024 helping the Blazers to the national title and is 53-6 all-time in singles and 35-13 in doubles at VSU.  
 
Senior Boruch Skierkier is third nationally in singles with a 28-3 record this season, while he is 15-8 this year in doubles with junior Jan Skerbatis.  Skierkier earned first team all-GSC honors this season and earned ITA All-America honors a season ago as he is 58-4 in singles and 40-12 in doubles for his two years at VSU.  Senior newcomer Edgar Destouet is 20^th nationally in singles with a 27-1 record, while he and graduate student Arthur Bord are 21-4 in doubles with the duo eighth nationally.  Skerbatis is 15-3 in singles this season, while junior Jerome Iaconi is 14-9 and freshman Julien Doitteau is 11-2 as he earned GSC Freshman of the Year honors.  
 
St. Thomas Aquinas is from Sparkill, N.Y., and the Spartans went 4-2 in the East Coast Conference losing in the title match to Queens (N.Y.), 4-1.  The Spartans are 17-6 this season and Queens has beaten them three times.  Division I institutions North Carolina Central won 4-3, while Fairfield won 4-3 and Fairleigh Dickenson won 4-3.  STAC has D1 wins over Niagara (4-3), Lafayette (6-1) and Hampton (4-3). 
 
The Spartans have three doubles teams ranked in the East Region Top ten, starting with Ondrej Sramek and Lorenzo Meschini who are fourth, while Don Vinz Lominoque and Nagamitsu Kuroda are fifth and Nathan Yacar and Victor Tauson are ninth.   In singles, Seth Newman is 19-9 this year and lost to Taco 6-0, 6-2 in the Round of 16 in the fall at the ITA Nationals.  Vinz Lominoque is 16-8 in singles, while Tauson is 14-7.  Sramek is 20-2.  Lominoque/Nagamitsu are 12-6 in doubles this year.  
 
STAC won 4-3 over Jefferson in the East Regional to qualify for its first trip to the finals in program history.  The Spartans won the doubles point and then held a 3-1 lead, before Jefferson tied the match and Vinz Lominoque sealed the victory with a 7-6 (5) and 7-6 (4) win at No. 4 singles.  The Spartans are in their third appearance in the NCAA postseason tournament with a 2-2 record all-time as they qualified in both 2022 and 2023 previously.