VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's and women's tennis teams are getting set for the 2026 Gulf South Conference Championships, set for Apr. 23-25, 2026, at the Tuscaloosa Tennis Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala.  VSU will open tournament play with the men facing West Alabama at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday and the women battle Lee at 6 p.m. ET also on Thursday.  
 
The Blazer women's team currently is 20^th nationally and went 10-8 overall this season and 5-3 in GSC play earning the No. 4-seed in the conference tournament.  Fans can access links to live stats of the championship on the official GSC Women's Tennis Championship Central webpage by clicking here.  See further down in the story for the men's championship page link.
 
VSU defeated Lee this season 6-1 in Valdosta on Mar. 4.  The Blazers won Nos. 2 and 3 doubles for the early lead and then won at Nos. 5, 4 and 1 singles to win the match as senior Carmelle Vial, junior Charleigh Fay and senior Lena Beckx, posted wins at the above positions in that order.  The Blazers handed Lee its first loss of the season with the win.  
 
If the Blazers were to defeat Lee, they would then face the winner of No. 1 Mississippi College and No. 8 Montevallo on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET in the semifinals.  The women's championship match is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET with the winner earning the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA postseason.  
 
The Blazers went 1-1 last week and ensured themselves of the program's first winning season since 2017 as they suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 17 Lynn and won 4-0 over Tampa to close the regular season.  Against Lynn, VSU lost the doubles point, but responded for a 2-1 lead and then held a 3-2 lead, but was unable to hang on losing in a final match tiebreaker.  
 
For the season, Ivana Castillo Hurtado is ranked 58^th nationally and is 14-8 in singles and 12-6 in doubles, while Charleigh Fay is 13-8 in singles and 12-7 in doubles.  Beckx is ranked 70^th nationally in singles.  Nemeth is 13-3 in doubles this season, while she is 6-1 in singles.  

VSU has won four GSC championships in women's tennis (1994, 2005, 2008 and 2010) as the four titles are good for third all-time in GSC history and second-most (West Florida, 19) among current members.  The Blazers qualified for the semifinals in 2024, losing 4-3 to Auburn Montgomery and have not played in the finals since a 5-4 loss to West Florida in 2017.  
 
Lee enters with a 9-5 record overall and went 4-4 in league play.  The Flames are 30^th nationally and are led by Rima Yoshida who is 16-7 this year in singles for 16^th nationally, while she is 12-9 in doubles.  Andrea Pascual is 16-8 in singles for 66^th nationally, while she is 12-9 in doubles. 
 
VSU leads the all-time series with Lee at 14-2 and has won three of the last four.  The Blazers are 3-0 against Lee in the conference tournament.  
 
On the men's side, the Blazers have struggled this year with injuries and are 5-11 overall, while going 3-5 in GSC play.  The Blazers earned the No. 6-seed in the tournament, while UWA is the No. 3-seed.  The Tigers finished 13-6 overall and 5-3 in league play.  
 
Fans can access links to live stats of the championship on the official GSC Men's Tennis Championship Central webpage by clicking here.
 
If the Blazers were to upset UWA, they would face the winner of the No. 2-seed Lee and No. 7-seed Delta State match on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.  The men's championship match is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. ET with the winner earning the GSC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA postseason.  
 
This season, the Blazers are led by Philipp Bosse who is 34^th nationally and 9-5 this year in singles.  He has not played since Apr. 3, but had a strong start to the season prior to that.  Jerome Iaconi has come on as of late as he is 7-7 and 7-5 this spring in singles, while he is 5-3 this spring in doubles.  Pietro Casciola is 6-7 in singles this spring.  
 
Against UWA during the regular season, the Blazers were shorthanded and had to forfeit at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.  Casciola won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5 singles over Itaru Kikuchi for the lone point for VSU on Apr. 11 in Pensacola, Fla.  Iaconi took then-No. 57 Jacob Tapia to three sets at the top spot, while Yohann Meunier took Federico Iturbe to three sets at No. 4 singles. 
 
West Alabama enters at 12^th nationally and is 14-6 overall and went 5-3 in league play.  Gabriel Garay leads the team at 33^rd nationally in singles and 14-6 this season.  Tapia is 61^st this week and is 15-12 in singles, while he is 14-9 in doubles.  Iturbe and Tapia are 13-4 in doubles this spring and went 5-0 in league play, while Afonso Portugal and Maksim Goncharov are 10-2 in doubles this spring. The Tigers have never won a GSC title on the men's side.
 
VSU is 17-4 against UWA since 2011, while the Blazers enter the conference tournament as the three-time defending champion.  The Blazers have won a GSC-record 17 Gulf South Conference titles 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 79-20 all-time in the GSC postseason championship.