Valdosta State's Konstantin Kutschenko returns a serve during Wednesday's match against New Orleans.

Valdosta State had uneven results Wednesday when the No. 5 Blazers beat No. 31 New Orleans, 6-3, but the Lady Blazers fell, 5-4. The men improve to 8-4 while the women fall to 6-6.

The men started strong, winning two of the doubles matches.

Christian Hansen and Niklas Herbring fell in the top spot, but Tammo Haake and Sebastian Jasyk won, 8-1, in the second slot while Konstantin Kutschenko and Nicola Kusy went on to win, 8-5, in the third slot for the early advantage.

In singles play, the top three Blazers won along with Jasyk in the sixth slot. No. 19 Hansen beat Ricardo Campos, 6-1, 6-2 while No. 45 Kutschenko won handedly, 6-2, 6-3. Herbring beat Hossam Meligy with matching 6-3 sets. Jasyk took down Dominik Kardell, 6-3, 6-4.

Unfortunately, the Blazers fell in the fourth and fifth slots. Santiago Vidales dropped to Vinay Kamineni, 7-5, 6-2. In the fifth spot, Kusy challenged David Malmgren, winning the first set, 7-5, but dropped the second and third, 6-3, 6-4.

Still, the Blazers would not need those points as they had clinched the match much earlier. The Lady Blazers, however, came down to the end.

Valdosta State dropped two of three doubles matches and would need four singles wins to take the match.

Michelle Fischer and Sara Braun won the top two singles matches while Juliana Boehm won the fifth slot. The Lady Blazers, however, could not close out a fifth point.

Braun and Alina Nagel were the only Lady Blazers to win in doubles play, defeating Marta Sans and Manuela Gomez, 9-8 (3). Fischer and Boehm dropped in the second spot, 8-4, while Maja Ehses and Leslie Roberge fell in bottom doubles, 8-6.

Fischer and Boehm made short work of their opponents in singles, winning 6-2, 6-3, and 6-3, 6-2, respectively. Braun was challenged a bit in the first set, but won, 7-6, and then took the second set with ease, 6-1.

No other Lady Blazer could pull a match out. The Lady Blazers, along with the Blazers, will have the chance for victories with three matches each this weekend in Pensacola, Fla.