PENSACOLA, Fla. – After falling behind in doubles, Valdosta State came roaring back to win the first four singles matches and defeat West Alabama, 5-2, in the NCAA Division II South Region semi-final match Saturday at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex.
Ranked 14th, Valdosta State improved to 13-7 with the win and advances to meet top-seeded West Florida in the region final. West Alabama, ranked 9th in the nation, ends its season 23-3.
Adam Drysdale and Anton Ivanov got West Alabama off to a fast start by winning No. 1 doubles, 8-3, over Francisco Yim Kim and Niklas Herbring. Kike Ruiz and Nestor Vargas ensured the Tigers would win two of three in doubles by taking care of Tammo Haake and Sebastian Jasyk, 8-4, in No. 3.
Valdosta State roared back to win the first three singles matches to finish with Mario Navarro Bayo defeating Ivanov (6-3, 6-0) in No. 2 singles, Sebastian Jasyk beating Manuel Grossmann (6-1, 6-4) in No. 6 and Herbring beating Ruiz (6-3, 6-3) in No. 5. Gereon Heitmann sealed the match victory for the Blazers by defeating Adam Drysdale (7-5, 7-5) in No. 3 singles.
Complete match results can be found at http://goargos.athleticsite.net/livestats/mtenn/xlive.htm.
