Liberty University
Furman
Flames Fall Against Furman at the Sports Racket
2/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Liberty men's tennis squad fell to Furman by a score of 5-2 on Friday afternoon at the Sports Racket in Lynchburg, Va. Furman improves to 2-2 on the season with the win, while Liberty falls to 1-2.
Furman collected the doubles point, notching wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles slots. Liberty's lone doubles win came from the No. 1 doubles position when Egon Samaai and Sam Matheson defeated Adam Steryous and Cameron Green, 6-3. The Flames fought hard in the No. 3 doubles position but Alex Steryous and Stefan Rhodes pulled ahead of Diego Castano and David Bush, 7-6 (7-5) in the tiebreaker to win the doubles point.
The Paladins continued where they left off in doubles, winning the first two singles points from the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. Green defeated Castano in No. 3 singles (6-1, 6-1) while Ben Horst bested Eddie Gutierrez in the No. 4 slot (6-1, 6-3).
Liberty won back-to-back matches from the No. 1 and No. 2 singles position to pull the Flames within striking distance, down 3-2.
Samaai put the Flames on the board from the No. 2 singles position. The 6-6 South Africa native was down 1-0 after dropping the first set 6-3. The senior then rallied for two consecutive 6-3 victories to win two out of three against Matt Browne and pull Liberty to within two of the Paladins.
Matheson won a key matchup from the No. 1 singles position, taking down Adam Steryous in three sets. Matheson won a tightly contested first set, 7-5, before falling 6-1 in the second set. The New Zealand native took a 3-1 lead in the third set and it was all uphill from there. Matheson claimed the third set, 6-3 to win his match and pull Liberty to within one.
With the contest slanted 3-2 in favor of the Paladins, Furman's Josh Pistorious clinched the match with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Liberty's Alex Poynter in the No. 5 singles slot to give the Paladins a 4-2 lead.
The match already sealed, Furman's Galen Arney notched a three-set victory over David Bush, 6-3, 1-6, 10-3 to provide the 5-2 victory for the visiting Paladins.
Liberty will return to action on Sunday when the Flames square off against Elon at 1 p.m. in the Sports Racket.
Furman 5, Liberty 2
Doubles
- Samaai/Matheson (LU) def. Steryous/Green (FUR), 6-3
- Browne/Horst (FUR) def. Gutierrez/Heller (LU), 6-1
- Steryous/Rhodes (FUR) def. Castano/Bush (LU), 7-6(5)
Singles
- Matheson (LU) def. Steryous (FUR), 7-5, 1-6, 6-3
- Samaai (LU) def. Browne (FUR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
- Green (FUR) def. Castano (LU), 6-1, 6-1
- Horst (FUR) def. Gutierrez (LU), 6-1, 6-3
- Pistorious (FUR) def. Poynter (LU), 6-0, 7-5
- Arney (FUR) def. Bush (LU), 6-3, 1-6, 10-3
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
3,4,2,1,5,6