MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The University of West Alabama men's tennis team will meet top-seeded West Florida in the Gulf South Conference Tennis Tournament finals Sunday after knocking off Valdosta State, 5-3, in the semi-finals Saturday at Lagoon Park.
 
The 37^th-ranked Tigers have now won 17 consecutive matches and enter Sunday's finals with a 23-2 record. The win over VSU avenges UWA's last loss this season, a 5-4 decision to the second-seeded Blazers back on Feb. 24. West Florida is 24-1 and ranked third in the NCAA Division II. Match time for the finals is 10 a.m. at Lagoon Park.
 
After taking care of Valdosta State on Saturday, West Alabama has an opportunity to avenge its only other loss of the season in the GSC finals. The Argos took care of UWA to open conference play on Feb. 6.
 
UWA won two of three doubles matches against Valdosta State before the Blazers took No. 1 and 2 singles to make things interesting. Kike Ruiz, Adam Drysdale and Simon Bardell then put the Tigers on their back, winning No. 4, 5 and 6 singles in straight sets to close the door on VSU's season.
 
Following are the results from Saturday's semi-final match against Valdosta State:
 
West Alabama 5, Valdosta State 3
 
No. 1 Doubles—Anton Ivanov/Adam Drysdale, UWA def. Konstantin
Kutschenko/Mario Navarro, VSU, 8-5
No. 2 Doubles—Nestor Vargas/Kike Ruiz, UWA def. Sebastian Jasyk/Tammo
Haake, VSU, 8-2
No. 3 Doubles— Jouchim Schemm/Andrew Harvin, VSU def. Honorio
Fernandez/Manuel Grossmann, UWA, 9-7
 
No. 1 Singles—Konstantin Kutschenko, VSU def. Nestor Vargas, UWA, 6-1,
6-3
No. 2 Singles—Jouchim Schemm, VSU def. Anton Ivanov, UWA, 6-3, 6-0
No. 4 Singles—Kike Ruiz, UWA def. Sebastian Jasyk, VSU, 6-1, 6-3
No. 5 Singles—Adam Drysdale, UWA def. Tammo Haake, VSU, 6-1, 6-2
No. 6 Singles—Simon Bardell, UWA def. Andrew Harvin, VSU, 6-1, 6-0