Liberty University
Winthrop
Host Flames Edged by Eagles, 4-3, on Senior Day
4/8/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The visiting Winthrop Eagles snuck past Liberty, 4-3, on the Flames' Senior Day, Sunday at the Cook Tennis Center.
The two teams split the six singles matches, and the doubles point, which was settled in a tiebreaker on court three that went to the Eagles, ultimately decided the outcome of the match in a battle for seeding heading into the 2018 Big South Men's Tennis Championship.
Winthrop (10-7) remains unbeaten in the conference at 6-0. After dropping its second straight Big South contest by a 4-3 score, Liberty (12-10) is now 4-2 in the league and in a tie for third place with Presbyterian (8-12, 4-2 BSC) with one conference match remaining (at Campbell, Thursday).
The Eagles' top pairing of Diego Quiroz and Tremayne Mitchell provided a 6-2 victory versus the Flames' Diego Castano and Alex Poynter. Despite Winthrop's win on court one, Liberty still appeared to be in good position to claim the doubles point.
Locked in a 3-3 tie, senior Sam Matheson and sophomore Chase Burton finished with a flurry versus Connor Williamson and Aditya Gokhale to pick up the 6-4 win. Matheson and Burton have now won five consecutive doubles matches and are 6-0 in Big South doubles matches, this spring.
Meanwhile, the Flames' Eddie Gutierrez and Vince Salas (No. 3 doubles) built up a 5-2 lead on Gabriel Dias and Joshua Ryan and were looking for just one more game to close out their match. Dias and Ryan rallied to take the next three games and even the score 5-all. The Liberty duo regained its composure, winning the next game to bring it to 6-5, Flames.
However, Winthrop's tandem forced a tiebreaker (6-6). In the tiebreaker, the two teams fought back-and-forth, with Liberty eventually taking a 6-5 lead and a set-point opportunity. The Eagles won the next three points for the 7-6 (8-6) triumph. Dias and Ryan's comeback efforts made it 1-0, Eagles, in the early stages of the match.
Coming off the tough doubles loss, Liberty's Eddie Gutierrez dominated his match (No. 3 doubles match versus Leandros Pappayiannis. The Mexico native won, 6-0, 6-0, evening the score at 1-1.
Winthrop's top player, Quiroz, controlled his match with Matheson throughout, winning in two sets (6-2, 6-1). The Eagles led, 2-1, following the Quiroz win on court one.
Castano was faced with an uphill battle in his match on court six versus Ryan, as he was outdone, 6-2, in the first set. The Liberty senior responded in resounding fashion, outplaying Ryan in the second and third sets to win them handedly (6-2, 6-0) and claim the match (2-6, 6-2, 6-0) to square the overall total at two matches apiece. The Statesville, N.C., native's victory was the 22nd of his senior campaign and improved his No. 6 singles mark to 14-3.
On court four, Williamson (Winthrop) beat Salas (Liberty), 6-1, in the opening set. In the second set, Salas had a set point, up 6-5, but could not manage to send it to a third set at the time, as Williamson forced a tiebreaker. Salas held a 6-5 edge with another set point, but Williamson staved off the threat of going to a third set. The Winthrop sophomore pulled out the victory, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7), bumping the visitors' lead to 3-2.
In the No. 5 singles match between Dias and Poynter, the two players traded sets (6-2, Dias and 6-3, Poynter) to set the stage for a third set with the outcome of the match at stake. Dias got up two breaks on Poynter and led, 4-1. The Eagles' sophomore proved too much in the third for Poynter, as he took the match (6-2, 3-6, 6-2). With the win, Winthrop went ahead, 4-2.
The Flames' Burton gritted out a tough three-set decision over Mitchell, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, in the No. 2 singles match. Burton's victory, his fifth straight in singles, brought the final score to 4-3 (Winthrop).
Prior to the match, the Liberty men's tennis program honored Castano, Matheson and Samuel Brown for their contributions to the program with a Senior Day ceremony.
Liberty will close out its regular-season schedule at second place Campbell (13-5, 5-1 BSC), Thursday afternoon. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. at the Nisbet Tennis Center in Buies Creek, N.C.
Winthrop 4, Liberty 3
Singles competition
1. QUIROZ, Diego (WIN) def. MATHESON, Sam (LIBERTYM) 6-2, 6-1
2. BURTON, Chase (LIBERTYM) def. MITCHELL, Tremayne (WIN) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2
3. GUTIERREZ, Eddie (LIBERTYM) def. PAPPAYIANNIS, L. (WIN) 6-0, 6-0
4. WILLIAMSON, Connor (WIN) def. SALAS, Vince (LIBERTYM) 6-1, 7-6 (9-7)
5. DIAS, Gabriel (WIN) def. POYNTER, Alex (LIBERTYM) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
6. CASTANO, Diego (LIBERTYM) def. RYAN, Joshua (WIN) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. QUIROZ, Diego/MITCHELL, Tremayne (WIN) def. CASTANO, Diego/POYNTER, Alex (LIBERTYM) 6-2
2. BURTON, Chase/MATHESON, Sam (LIBERTYM) def. WILLIAMSON, Connor/GOKHALE, Aditya (WIN) 6-4
3. DIAS, Gabriel/RYAN, Joshua (WIN) def. GUTIERREZ, Eddie/SALAS, Vince (LIBERTYM) 7-6 (8-6)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,1,6,4,5,2) Senior Day
Official: Williams/Harrison T-3:15
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,6,4,5,2