ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Valdosta State junior Boruch Skierkier trailed 1-3 and 30-40 in the third set with the team score tied 3-3 in the NCAA Division II National Semifinals Friday afternoon. From there, Skierkier, found another level and rallied for a 7-6 (7-3) victory over No. 8-ranked Vincent Thiel as the Blazers advanced past No. 3-seed Saint Leo for a berth in Saturday’s national championship match.
Skierkier, ranked 23rd nationally, split the first two sets with Thiel, 6-4, 4-6. VSU had raced out to a 3-0 lead in the team score, but senior Luca Mack, ranked 26th nationally, lost 6-3, 6-4 at the top spot to No. 2-ranked Martin Soukal and SLU’s Luis Iriarte won 2-6, 6-4 6-3 at No. 6-singles over senior Christan Wedel to level the match at 3-3.
The Lions began their comeback starting with Dylan Andrianaly’s 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 5 over freshman Jerome Iaconi.
In the final match, Thiel went up 2-0 in the third set, but Skierkier kept fighting through cramping and needed VSU athletic trainer Jay Johnson and a timeout as he pulled within 1-2.
Following the medical break, Thiel won the fourth game for a 3-1 lead and was a game point away from a 4-1 lead, before Skierkier turned the match around tying the set at 4-4. With the renewed momentum, Skierkier took the upper hand with leads of 5-4 and 6-5 before Thiel forced the tiebreaker.
“There were several times before the end that I thought he (Skierkier) had it,” head coach John Hansen said. “If I were to pick someone out of our team to be in that situation, it would be him. I don’t know where he gets his guts, but he doesn’t think he can ever lose. Once he got up 5-2 in the tiebreaker, I thought we had a pretty good chance.”
In the tiebreaker, Skierkier went to another gear and raced out to a 5-2 lead as both players had very little in the tank due to the 90-plus-degree temperatures and high humidity. Skierkier found a way and won two of the final three points for a match for the ages. VSU defeated Saint Leo on the road, 4-3, in April.
“I knew to make it to the final today I needed to win,” Skierkier said. “We won the first three singles matches and lost the next three. I was very tired after the first set and I was looking at my teammates, but I got the energy from them to keep fighting.”
VSU (25-3) advances to the national championship match for the first time since 2011 when it won its second national title with a 5-2 victory over Barry that season. VSU also won the national title in 2006. VSU is 2-3 all-time in the national championship match, while Flagler (22-2) is making its first appearance in the national title in any sports since moving to NCAA Division II.
Flagler defeated VSU 4-3 in the ITA Indoor National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, in February. VSU enters winners of its last 15 matches, while Flagler has won its last 18. The Saints, who are the top-seed in this tournament, dropped the doubles point to No. 4-seed Columbus State, but won four singles matches to advance, 4-1 Friday morning in the other semifinal.
The Blazers got off to a fast start against SLU as No. 6-ranked duo of seniors Rodrigo Carvalho and Mack won 6-1 over No. 28-ranked tandem of Iriarte and Soukal, while juniors Takeshi Taco and Xaveam Van Wijk dispatched Nicolas Bacella and Ghali Mensour, 6-0 for the 1-0 lead in the team scoring.
Taco, ranked seventh nationally in singles, downed Bacella 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 for a 2-0 lead and Carvalho took care of Mensour at No. 4, 6-4, 6-4, for a 3-0 lead.