NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Jacksonville State men's tennis team advanced to the championship match of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Championships on Saturday with a 4-2 win over Belmont at Nashville's Hadley Park.
 
Sophomores Joaquin Vallejo and Jordi Blanchar paced the Gamecocks (13-6) with a pair of singles wins in the victory over the Bruins (12-10), pushing their single-season wins total to 12 each.
 
Jacksonville State began the contest by claiming the doubles point in three hard-fought sets. Aljaz Kaplja and Sergio Lizarraga won the first set 6-4, but Belmont battled back for a 6-3 win at No. 3 to even the score. Tied one set each with the No. 2 game in progress, Blanchar and Guillermo Agost gave JSU the point and momentum going into singles play with a 6-4 win.
 
With one point already under the belts, the Gamecocks went on to take three of the five singles matchups to advance to Sunday's championship date. Blanchar won a three-set thriller of Jake Briggs at No. 6, while Vallejo took care of Marko Illic in two frames.
 
Kaplja won both of his No. 1 sets by a score of 6-2 over Hendrik Inno to close out the contest.
 
Sunday's 2 p.m. matchup with Tennessee Tech will be the Gamecocks' first appearance in an OVC tennis final since winning the title in 2014. The match is scheduled to be played at Centennial Park in Nashville.
 
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