ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Valdosta State fought through doubles to come out with a 2-1 lead, but it would not be enough as Barry battled back to win the NCAA Men’s Tennis National Championship, 5-4.

Philip Pakebusch and Michael Kuech received all they could handle against Ales Svigelj and Max Wimmer, but still came out on top, 9-8 (10-8). The other doubles point came from Daniel Dueren and Christian Hansen. They beat Emanuel Fraitzl and Marco Mokrzycki, 8-6. Andrew Sharnov and Sergio Velez was able to get the final doubles point over Otto Lenhart and Frank Sickman, 8-6.

In singles, Dueren was the first to finish with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Svigelj. The next point for Valdosta State came in the top spot. Pakebusch beat Mokrzycki, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

After that, there was not much good news for the Blazers. Valdosta State fell in the final four singles matches. Valdosta State was close to earning the winning point in two separate instances though.

Hansen won first set over Fraitzl in the third position, 7-5, but fell in the second set, 6-2. Then he jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set, but would not win another game as Fraitzl finished the final set, 6-4.

Valdosta State’s other chance came in the fifth slot with Konstantin Kutschenko. He fell in the first set, 3-6, but came back to win the second, 6-2. Kutschenko earned a 4-1 advantage in the final set, but let Andrew Sharnov come back to take a 5-4 lead. The two went to a tiebreaker, but VSU could not pull it out.

-From Staff Reports, Wednesday, May 12

VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State’s longtime tennis coach, John Hansen, was named the National Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

His men’s team is currently ranked No. 1 in the Campbell/ITA National Rankings and will play Wednesday in the NCAA National Tournament. His VSU Blazers were one of the few teams to knock off Armstrong Atlantic State this season, so Valdosta State is poised to unseat the defending NCAA Champions in Altamonte Springs, Fla., this week.

Hansen’s women’s team won the Gulf South Conference Championship, as did the men, and went onto the NCAA South Regional Finals.

Along with Hansen, his assistant coach, Leos Jelinek, was named the south regional assistant coach of the year. Senior women’s player, Natali Gumbrecht was named the south regional senior player of the year. In her senior season, she finished 8-4 in the top spot in singles play and 15-3 in doubles action, good enough for a national ranking of No. 6.