Drury University's tennis Panthers rallied from a 2-1 deficit after doubles to claim a 5-2 victory over UC-San Diego and move into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships here on Wednesday.
The nationally fourth-ranked Panthers (24-2) will face No. 2 Valdosta State (15-5) in the national quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Homer Ford Tennis Complex. It's a rematch of a March 19 match in Valdosta, Ga., where the host Blazers claimed a 5-4 victory after Drury led 3-0 after doubles.
Valdosta, the 2006 national champion and runner-up last year, beat Bloomsburg 5-0 on Wednesday.
Drury's victories on Wednesday came from No. 3 doubles and in singles from No. 1 Stefan Borg, No. 2 Federico Levi, No. 4 Anton Khadasevich and No. 5 Antonio Garcia Santos. The Panthers were also up a set in the other two singles matches when DU scored the winning fifth point.
"UC San Diego always plays very good doubles, very in your face and aggressive," Drury coach Amine Boustani said after his squad's 19th straight victory. "But we turned it around and played some really solid singles."
On facing Valdosta State in a rematch of one of their two losses on the season, Boustani says "the key will be to play good doubles again. Sweeping them in doubles again may be a challenge, but if we can get up 2-1 and play a little better at No. 1 this time, I like our chances.
"Our guys felt like that one slipped away from them last time. This is a good time for a rematch."

May 14, 2008 at Houston, Texas
(Memorial Park Tennis Center)

#4 Drury University 5, #18 California San Diego 2

Singles competition
1. #4 Stefan Borg (DU) def. #20 Bijan Moallemi (UCSD) 6-1, 6-2
2. #37 Federico Levi (DU) def. #40 Eric Rubens (UCSD) 6-4, 6-4
3. #47 Nahom Serekeberhan (DU) vs. Kazumi Negishi (UCSD) 7-6 (7-3), 3-1, unfinished
4. Anton Khadasevich (DU) def. Brandon Low (UCSD) 6-3, 6-4
5. Antonio Garcia (DU) def. Alex Placek (UCSD) 6-3, 6-4
6. Nikola Prpic (DU) vs. Vincent Nguyen (UCSD) 6-3, 4-5, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Alex Placek/Eric Rubens (UCSD) def. #18 Stefan Borg/Nikola Prpic (DU) 8-5
2. Bijan Moallemi/Eric Elliott (UCSD) def. Federico Levi/Anton Khadasevich (DU) 8-4
3. Nahom Serekeberhan/Florian Perche (DU) def. Kazumi Negishi/Alex Whitmore (UCSD) 8-1

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,4,2,5)