Liberty Set for Home Finale Weekend
3/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Liberty women's tennis squad returns to action tomorrow when the Lady Flames (7-8, 3-0 BSC) take on Gardner-Webb (4-8, 1-2 BSC) at 2 p.m., at the Cook Tennis Center. The contest will serve as Senior Day for both Belen Rivera and Valerie Thong. Following tomorrow's contest, Liberty will close out its regular season home finale with a 10 a.m. matchup against No. 53 Winthrop (10-2, 2-0 BSC) on Saturday.
2016 Season
The Lady Flames are coming off back-to-back wins, most recently defeating Radford on Tuesday by a score of 6-1, improving to 3-0 in conference play for the second consecutive season. With a win tomorrow, Liberty would improve to 4-0 for the second consecutive season and second time in program history. Should the Lady Flames notch the program's first-ever victory against Winthrop on Saturday, Liberty would improve to 5-0 in conference play for the first time in program history.
Liberty is led in singles by Maria Khval and Evangeline Crist, who have each posted a 9-5 overall mark this season with both being on a three-match winning streak. The Lady Flames' strong suit this spring has been the action in doubles play, as Liberty is 31-12 (.721) heading into tomorrow's match. Liberty has claimed nine consecutive doubles points, and 11 in the Lady Flames' last 12 matches. Crist and Thong lead the way in doubles action with an 11-3 record, winning seven in a row coming into the weekend. The Liberty duo of Anna Dollar and Khval have earned a 9-5 doubles record thus far in the spring, while Rebekah Anderson and Aleksandra Panchenko are 8-1 as a doubles tandem.
Scouting the Competition
Gardner-Webb enters the weekend match having lost five of its last six matches. The last Runnin' Bulldogs win came against Fairfield on March 7 with a 7-0 sweep. Most recently, Gardner-Webb dropped a 6-1 result to Wofford on March 10. Sandra Bolstad and Catherine White pace Gardner-Webb in singles action, each posting a 6-6 overall mark. White and Sarah Rieckmann lead the way in doubles play with a 9-2 record as a duo.
Winthrop enters the weekend as the No. 53 team in the most recent ITA National Rankings. The Eagles are 10-2, including 2-0 in Big South action. Winthrop has the chance to improve on that mark with a conference match at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Longwood. The Eagles are 5-1 in the month of March with the lone loss coming to Georgia State on March 11 (5-2). Most recently the Eagles bested UNC Greensboro on Tuesday by a score of 7-0 in Rock Hill, S.C.
Winthrop returns 2015 Big South Women's Tennis Freshman of the Year/Big South All-Conference Singles Honoree, Mariana Humberg. Humberg is 11-1 this spring in singles action and 8-3 in doubles play. In addition to Humberg, Winthrop also features Alice Garcia who was also on the 2015 Big South Women's All-Conference Singles squad. Garcia is currently ranked No. 114 in the ITA Top 125 and has posted a 9-3 singles mark and 6-5 doubles record, this spring.
Chasing History
Khval and Rivera continue to climb up the program's all-time singles wins ladder. The duo have each collected 56 wins in singles play, pulling ahead of Jonita Randolph for the fifth-most singles wins in program history. Both Rivera and Khval need one win to tie Hannah Fick with the fourth-most singles victory in Liberty history.
Thong became Liberty's all-time doubles leader in Liberty's 6-1 victory over Campbell on March 3, after the senior notched her 79th career doubles victory, passing Jordan Jenkins. Thong has accounted for 22 doubles victories this season, tied with Crist, and 84 overall. Thong and Crist have registered 20 victories as a duo this season, ranking third in program history for the most team wins in a single season. The doubles tandem need only three wins to set the new single-season program record of 23, passing their own previous record of 22 wins set in 2015.
Crist has also accounted for 22 doubles victories overall this season. The Georgia native currently holds the program record of 27 doubles wins in a single season, set in 2015.
What's Next?
Following this weekend, the Lady Flames will return to action on March 24 against Coastal Carolina at 1 p.m. in Conway, S.C. Liberty's contest against the Chanticleers will begin a four-match swing in the Palmetto State, ending on April 2 against Charleston Southern in Charleston, S.C. at 11 a.m.
