Liberty University
Incarnate Word
Flames Win Game One of Doubleheader
3/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Liberty Flames men's tennis squad notched its second consecutive victory during their Texas road trip, this time against the Incarnate Word Cardinals. The Flames bested the Cardinals, 6-1, for their third win in a row to improve to 7-4 on the campaign. Incarnate Word falls to 5-11 after its sixth straight loss.
The Flames captured the doubles point after winning two of the three doubles matches. Liberty earned its first doubles win when Sam Matheson and Jorge Azuero defeated Leonard Ivic and Brody Rodriguez, 6-4, from the No. 2 doubles slot.
Egon Samaai and newcomer Jason Burgess helped clinch the doubles point from the No. 3 slot with a 6-1 victory over Andre Buchanan-Dempsey and Nicholas Ramirez.
The lone doubles loss came from the No. 1 slot with Dillon Segur and Diego Castano falling to Tucker Brown and Joey Vatanadilok, 6-4.
The Cardinals evened the score to begin singles play, as Segur fell in three sets to Ivic in No. 1 singles. The North Carolina native dropped the first set 7-5, only to bounce back to take the second set, 6-2. However, the senior co-captain fell in a third set tiebreaker, 10-8.
The Flames then ran off wins in the rest of the five singles draws to claim the match, 6-1. Matheson placed Liberty ahead for good in No. 2 singles position with a 6-3, 7-5, win over Vatanadilok.
Egon Samaai captured the third point for the red and blue, besting Brown in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
Liberty clinched the match at the No. 4 position. Co-captain Azuero defeated Rodriguez in two sets,6-2, 6-2.
With the match in hand, the Flames added victories from freshman Castano and freshman David Bush. The two cruised to victories in the No. 5 and 6 singles slot, respectively. Both upended their Cardinals' opponents in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 in each match.
Liberty returns to action later in the afternoon, squaring off against the St. Mary's Rattlers. St. Mary's entered the match with a 4-3 record overall. The contest will be played at 3 p.m. ET. at Rohrbach Stadium in San Antonio, Texas.
Liberty 6, Incarnate Word 1
Doubles
- Brown/Vatanadilok (UIW) def. Segur/Castano (LU), 6-4
- Matheson/Azuero (LU) def. Ivic/Rodriguez (UIW), 6-4
- Samaai/Burgess (LU) def. Buchanan-Dempsey/Ramirez (UIW), 6-1
Singles
- Ivic (UIW) def. Segur (LU), 7-5, 2-6, 10-8
- Matheson (LU) def. Vatanadilok (UIW), 6-3, 7-5
- Samaai (LU) def. Brown (UIW), 6-3, 6-2
- Azuero (LU) def. Rodriguez (UIW), 6-2, 6-2
- Castano (LU) def. Buchanan-Dempsey (UIW), 6-0, 6-0
- Bush (LU) def. Ramirez (UIW), 6-0, 6-0
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match