VSU tennis finishes regular season undefeated
Published 10:50 pm Sunday, April 9, 2006
VALDOSTA — Valdosta State’s men’s tennis team won again.
Valdosta State, the No. 1 tennis team in Division II, won their 18th straight match Sunday, defeating No. 12 Rollins 6-3 at the VSU tennis courts.
Valdosta State (18-0) has yet to lose this season.
For the fifth straight match, the Blazers lost two of three doubles matches, only to dominate singles and earn the victory.
Rollins’ top doubles team, Brian Compton and Carlos Custodio, the No. 20 doubles pairing in the country, upset VSU’s Christoph Schneider and Dominik Hansen, the nation’s No. 7 doubles team, 8-1. Rollins’ second doubles team, David Tafur and Jonathan Gomez, also prevailed, 8-5 over Nikolas Overkemping and Leos Jelinek. But Valdosta State won at No. 3 doubles, with Mickael Andreo and Thomas Provost defeating Rollins’ Brian Irvin and Qi-Hao Tan 8-4.
Then it was time for the singles matches, and once again, Valdosta State took command.
Christoph Schneider, the No. 11 player in the country, defeated Custodio, ranked 16th, at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-4. Provost defeated Tafur at No. 3 singles, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Jelinek defeated Gomez at No. 4 singles, 6-2, 6-1.
At No. 5 singles, Overkemping went three sets to defeat Compton, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. And at No. 6 singles, Hansen beat Schwarz in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
VSU’s lone loss in singles came at No. 2, when Andreo, ranked 24th in the nation but battling the flu, lost to Tan, 6-2, 6-0.
Valdosta State is now 2-0 since being ranked the No. 1 team in the country on Friday in the Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings (VSU also defeated No. 5 Lynn 5-3 on Saturday). This is the first time the program, which has long been among Division II’s elite programs, has been No. 1. This was the Blazers’ final match of the regular season, so they will likely enter the postseason as the country’s No. 1 team.
The Blazers are off until the Gulf South Conference tournament, which begins April 22 in Huntsville, Ala.