Lady Flames Set to Host BSC Opponent Radford, Wednesday
2/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Liberty women's tennis team will host Big South Conference foe Radford, Wednesday.
The match is set for a 2 p.m. start at the Crosswhite Athletic Club in Lynchburg. This will be the 21st-ever meeting between the two schools, with Liberty leading the all-time series 13-7. The Lady Flames topped the Highlanders, 6-1, last year in Radford, Va., in regular season play. Liberty then bested Radford, 4-0, in the 2016 Big South Women's Tennis Championship quarterfinals.
Liberty enters the match 2-3 overall and 1-0 in Big South play, while Radford is 0-4 overall and has not competed in conference play yet this year.
Challenging Schedule of Late
The Lady Flames faced some stern competition last weekend at Wake Forest and Tennessee. The Demon Deacons featured two singles players ranked in the ITA women's singles top 125 rankings, while the Vols had one player ranked inside the top 125 in singles. Liberty dropped both matches by 4-0 decisions.
The match at Wake Forest nearly turned in Liberty's favor. Trailing 3-0, the Lady Flames lost a second set 5-3 lead at No. 5 singles and fell in a tiebreaker to lose the match. Had Liberty won that match, it would have kept the match alive tightened the contests, as the Lady Flames led in the other three remaining matches (No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 singles).
Liberty's four opponents outside of Big South play this spring own a combined 25-7 record.
Last Wednesday, junior Evangeline Crist was named the Big South Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week. She was a key contributor in the Lady Flames' 4-3 win over ETSU, Feb. 4, and also won a singles match at Louisville on Feb. 5.
2017 Big South Outlook
Liberty was selected to finish second in the Big South Conference women's tennis preseason poll. The Lady Flames are 1-0 in league play in 2017 after a 7-0 victory over Longwood on Feb. 1 in Lynchburg.
Liberty garnered one first-place vote and seven second-place votes for 72 points in the preseason poll. Winthrop received seven of the nine possible first-place votes for 79 points and its 14th consecutive No. 1 preseason ranking. The Eagles are currently 1-0 in Big South play, defeating Longwood.
Charleston Southern garnered the remaining first-place vote and eight third-place votes for 65 points. Campbell (53 points), Radford (37 points), UNC Asheville (37 points), Gardner-Webb (27 points), Presbyterian (24 points) and Longwood (11 points) rounded out the poll.
The 2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship will be played at Wake Forest, April 20-23, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Scouting Radford
Radford comes into Wednesday's matchup 0-4 overall and 0-0 in league play. The Highlanders concluded last year with a 2-15 mark and 1-8 record in BSC play.
The Highlanders have lost matches to Elon, James Madison, Appalachian State and Virginia Tech so far this year. Their current roster consists of two freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors.
Freshman Drousile Bzeubou and junior Natalie Sayer lead the team with six singles wins apiece, while they also have the most doubles wins for the Highlanders as pairing with four.
Radford is coached by Jessica Giuggioli. She was named the head coach of the Radford women's tennis program in March of 2016.
