Richmond, Va. - The Georgia State men's tennis team (15-4) fell on the road against VCU (11-3), 6-1, at the Thalhimer Tennis Center Wednesday night. Sophomore Victor Valente picked up the Panthers lone victory at No. 2 singles.   

"Our guys fought hard today," said head coach Chase Hodges.  "Many of the singles matches could have gone either way after a very competitive doubles point.  We gained a lot of confidence today as we are right there with the best team in the CAA."

Sophomore Victor Valente earned his ninth straight victory after winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. Valente improves to 14-3 overall, including a perfect 10-0 at the No. 2 position.

Georgia State went down early after losing all three doubles matches to lose the doubles point. Thomas Cook and Victor Valente had a tough loss at No. 1 doubles 9-7.

Juan Pablo Gutierrez and Lucas Santana also lost 9-7 at No. 3 doubles.

VCU improved its lead to 3-0 after picking up two straight set victories at No. 1 and No. 5 singles.

Junior Juan Pablo Gutierrez lost a three set match at No. 4 singles, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to clinch it for the Rams. Gutierrez was able to win the second set 6-2 but lost the third set 6-2.

After Valente's win at No. 2 singles, the final two matches were very close.

The Rams earned their fifth point after pulling out a three set win at No. 2 singles, 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 6-3 over Thomas Cook. Cook played an epic first set falling 11-9 in the tiebreaker and came back to win the second set 6-4.

At the No. 6 spot, sophomore Lucas Santana lost to Camill Solomon, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6). Santana had a chance to send it to a third set but lost in the tiebreaker 8-6.

Georgia State returns to action next Wednesday when they return home to face Illinois State at 2:30 p.m. at Piedmont Park.

Check GeorgiaStateSports.com for all the match recaps and statistics of the 2011 men's tennis season.

-GeorgiaStateSports.com-