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Liberty University
No. 9 seed Radford
Lady Flames Advance to Big South Semifinals
4/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The No. 1 seed Liberty Lady Flames tennis squad defeated No. 9 seed Radford on Saturday morning by the final score of 4-0 in the 2016 Big South Women's Tennis Championship quarterfinals at the Cook Tennis Center.
The Lady Flames, who needed just 93 minutes to clinch Saturday's victory, advance to the Big South semifinals for the fourth consecutive season. Head coach Jeff Maren runs his record to 4-0 in Big South quarterfinal matches since taking the helm of the program in 2012-13.
With the victory, Liberty improves to 14-9 overall this season and 13-7 all-time against the Highlanders. Radford ends its season at 2-15 following the loss.
Liberty proved its dominance in doubles play, yet again. The Lady Flames won their 15th doubles point in their last 17 attempts. The freshman duo of Aleksandra Panchenko and Rebekah Anderson were the first to finish for Liberty, defeating Taylor Fay and Claire Nguyen from the No. 3 doubles position, 6-1.
Maria Khval and Anna Dollar clinched the doubles point for the Lady Flames after downing Tarrannum Handa and Meili Martin from the No. 2 doubles slot, 6-2.
Evangeline Crist and Valerie Thong were ahead 5-0 in the No. 1 doubles slot before their match was called following the Lady Flames clinching the doubles point.
Thong extended the Liberty lead to 2-0 just 37 minutes into singles action. The California senior bested Karlie Pope in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.
The Liberty lead was extended to three after Crist delivered a straight-set victory from the No. 3 singles position. The sophomore from Georgia ousted Martin 6-0, 6-1 to pull the Lady Flames within one point of advancing to their fourth straight Big South semifinals match.
The Lady Flames clinched the match when Khval defeated Natalie Sayer in the No. 1 singles position. Khval was behind 3-1 in the first frame and rallied to win five consecutive games to claim the first set, 6-3. Khval rode the momentum into the second set, besting Sayer 6-3 in convincing fashion.
Liberty will return to action tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in the Big South semifinals at the Cook Tennis Center. The Lady Flames will square off against the winner of No. 4 seed Charleston Southern and No. 5 seed Campbell.
Charleston Southern defeated Liberty on April 2 by the final score of 4-3 for the Lady Flames' lone conference loss this season. Liberty defeated Campbell 6-1 on March 3 in Lynchburg.
Liberty 4, Radford 0
Doubles
- Crist/Thong (LU) vs. Sayer/Sarver (RU), 5-0, unfinished
- Dollar/Khval (LU) def. Handa/Martin (RU), 6-2
- Anderson/Panchenko (LU) def. Fay/Nguyen (RU), 6-1
Singles
- Khval (LU) def. Sayer (RU), 6-3, 6-3
- Dollar (LU) vs. Handa (RU), 6-6, unfinished
- Crist (LU) def. Martin (RU), 6-0, 6-1
- Rivera (LU) vs. Sarver (RU), 5-7, 1-1, unfinished
- Hassey (LU) vs. Fay (RU), 7-5, 2-1, unfinished
- Thong (LU) def. Pope (RU), 6-0, 6-0
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,3,1