Staff Reports

The No. 1 VSU Blazers sailed past Christian Brothers, 5-0, in the first round of the Gulf South Conference Tournament and passed up Alabama-Huntsville by the same score to advance to play West Florida for the GSC Championship at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The men weren’t challenged, finishing both Christian Brothers and Alabama-Huntsville before either team could earn a point.

Meanwhile, the Lady Blazers fell to No. 34 Delta State, 5-1.

In both men’s matches, VSU jumped to a 3-0 lead after doubles action.

In the first match of the day, Philip Pakebusch (Hamburg, Germany) and Bernhard Wallner (Zell Am Ziller, Austria) earned the singles points VSU needed to sweep Christian Brothers.
Pakebusch beat the Bucs’ Kevin Johnson, 6-0, 6-0, while Wallner received a win due to a withdrawal from injury by Ebai Ayuk.

Against Alabama-Huntsville, it was the third and fourth singles players to earn the VSU points.   Christian Hansen (Cologne, Germany) and Luis Loeffler (Freiburg, Germany) both earned wins in matching sets. Hansen beat Raphael Oliviera, 6-1, 6-1, while Loeffler took down Guilermo Reyes, 6-0, 6-0.

The Lady Blazers struggled against DSU, the ninth team in the region, with the only VSU point coming at second doubles. Nicole Hernandez (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Jessica Tuggle (Alpharetta, Ga.) were able to outlast Lucia Laws and Amandine Gourques, 8-6, to make it 2-1 after doubles.

Delta State won three singles matches in the fourth, fifth and sixth slots to advance.

The Blazers will look for their fifth consecutive GSC Championship at 10 a.m. against West Florida Sunday.