by Jyrell Wynn

VSU’s tennis teams prepare for its match against the Rollins Tars this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on the Tennis Courts.

The men’s team defeated the Florida Tech Panthers 9-0 on Sunday in Melbourne, Florida. The Blazers won all three matches to clinch their victory against the Panthers in doubles.

Blazers Ramon Weil and Gereon Heitmann won the first match 8-5 against Tars Wade Ball and Patrick Hernandez in doubles.

Francisco Yim Kim and Niklas Herbring lead Valdosta to an 8-2 win over Beau Fieldsend and Aria Solana.

In the last match for doubles, Edward Nguyen and Leo Blay brought home the victory with an 8-6 win.

The Lady Blazers had to forfeit two matches from the start of the match due to a dwindling roster, but still managed to claim a 5-4 victory over Florida Tech at DeSoto Park.

In doubles, Jennifer Rink and Anke Poncelet worked together to defeat Natasa Vukovic and Erin Egoroff 8-6. Bea Hernandez and Joanna Lario brought home a 8-5 victory for the Blazers over Chloe Chanley and Kayla Hergott.

Poncelet defeated Egoroff 6-2 and 6-1 to ensure the victory for the Blazers.

According to national rankings, the Blazers men team is ranked 10th and the women team is ranked 15th. The Tars men team is ranked 13th and the women team is ranked 9th.

John Hansen, coach of the men and women tennis team, has been training both teams to handle the situation.

“We have the year planned out, there is nothing extra that we can do except for trying to practice,”
Hansen said. “Rollins is a top ten team that can easily beat you; you just have to prepare mentally and physically to beat them.”

The Blazers record has been about 50/50 against the Tars beating them last year, but losing in 2013. It is a seesaw battle according to Hansen.

Henson’s overall preparation method is to take each match as the next battle to survive.

Although the Blazers will play their best tennis on Saturday, there is still room for improvement on the court. “We need to work on our doubles,” Hansen said.

The Blazers teams both won its matches, so they can bring that momentum in the game Saturday.

They have a tough road ahead since the Rollins women won against Palm Beach Atlantic and the men are looking for some redemption after their lost to Lynn University.