ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – On a very hot and humid afternoon, the top-ranked and top-seeded Valdosta State men's tennis team dug deep to defeat No. 8-seed and No. 17-ranked University of Indianapolis in the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Quarterfinals, 4-1.
The Blazers ran their winning streak to 40-straight matches with the win and improved to 24-0 this season as they will play in the national semifinals for the third-straight year, losing to eventual national champion Barry in 2023 and winning the national championship last season over Flagler.
Temperatures were in the high 90s when the match began at 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. VSU's No. 8-ranked duo of graduate student
Arthur Bord and senior
Edgar Destouet defeated Asier Alyllon Prado and Tadeo Gaggiofatto 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.
UIndy's duo of Lorenzo Di Cursi and Manu Lanteri won 7-6 (7-4) at No. 3 doubles over senior
Boruch Skierkier and junior
Jan Skerbatis, but No. 5-ranked Blazer tandem of seniors
Takeshi Taco and Xavem Van Wijk battled back at the top spot and thwarted the upset bid from Mathieu Derache and David Simenov, 7-6 (8-6) to claim the doubles point.
Taco, ranked No. 2 nationally in singles, made quick work of Simenov at the top spot in singles 6-1, 6-4, while freshman
Julien Doitteau bested Di Cursi at No. 6, 6-2, 6-2, for a 3-0 lead.
From there, things got interesting as Gaggiofatto won 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 at No. 5 over Skerbatis for a 3-1 score. Destouet, who played at UIndy last year and is ranked No. 20 nationally this year for the red and black, defeated Lanteri 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-2 to win the match.
Skierkier, ranked No. 3 nationally, showed great determination at the No. 2 spot as he responded from a 3-6 loss in the first set for a 6-3 win in the second over Prado and the players were tied 4-4 in the third in a very competitive match. Blazer sophomore
Jerome Iaconi won the first set at No. 4 singles over Derache 6-4, but dropped the second and the third was tied 1-1 win the match was clinched by Destouet.
The Blazers now will face No. 4-seed Lubbock Christian on Friday at 9 a.m. Fans can access links to live streaming and live stats of the match at vstateblazers.com on the men's tennis schedule page. UIndy finished its season at 22-4.
