Liberty University
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No. 3 seed North Florida
No. 3 Seed North Florida Slips Past No. 2 Seed Liberty 4-3, Saturday
4/20/2019 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
No. 3 seed North Florida erased a two-point deficit to slip past No. 2 seed Liberty 4-3, Saturday morning in the ASUN Men's Tennis Championship semifinals at the Cummings Tennis Courts.
The Ospreys trailed 3-1 in the match but came back to win a trio of three-set singles matches (No. 2, No. 4 and No. 1) to advance to the championship match. The Flames see their season end with a 12-11 record.
North Florida improves to 14-10 on the year and moves on to face No. 1 seed Florida Gulf Coast in Sunday's final at 10 a.m. The FGCU Eagles defeated Kennesaw State 4-0 in Saturday morning's other semifinal. UNF will be looking to win the ASUN Championship title for a second straight year.
The match took two days to complete. Play was suspended on Friday afternoon due to severe weather in DeLand, with the two teams tied at 1-1. The match resumed Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
North Florida 4, Liberty 3
Singles Competition
1. Sahil Deshmukh (UNF) def. Nicaise Muamba (LIBERTYM) 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
2. Dominik Barton (UNF) def. Josh Wilson (LIBERTYM) 6-4, 0-6, 6-4
3. Till Von Winning (UNF) def. Chase Burton (LIBERTYM) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Nilo Duarte (UNF) def. Ian Sturgill (LIBERTYM) 6-4, 6-2
5. Eddie Gutierrez (LIBERTYM) def. Jorge Nunez (UNF) 6-3, 6-3
6. Vince Salas (LIBERTYM) def. Federico Nani (UNF) 6-4, 7-5
Doubles Competition
1. Nicaise Muamba/Chase Burton (LIBERTYM) vs. Nilo Duarte/Sahil Deshmukh (UNF) 5-3, unfinished
2. Josh Wilson/Ian Sturgill (LIBERTYM) def. Jorge Nunez/Federico Nani (UNF) 6-4
3. Vince Salas/Steve Mundt (LIBERTYM) def. Dominik Barton/Till Von Winning (UNF) 6-2
Liberty 12-11
North Florida 14-10
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,5,6,2,3,1)
How It Happened
- It came down a third set between ASUN All-Conference first team selections Nicaise Muamba (Liberty) and Sahil Deshmukh (UNF) to decide a winner. The match was tied at 3-3, and Muamba forced a third set by winning a tiebreaker in the second. However, the UNF senior came out strong in the third set and led 5-1, looking to put away the match. Muamba held serve and broke serve to keep the match alive (5-3), but Deshmukh broke serve in the next game to claim the match 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, and a 4-3 UNF victory.
- On Friday, Liberty earned the first point of the day in doubles. The Flames' Vince Salas and Steve Mundt topped Dominik Barton and Till Von Winning 6-2 on court three. Salas and Mundt led all Flames doubles units with 11 victories, this spring.
- The Flames' Josh Wilson and Ian Sturgill took care of Jorge Nunez and Federico Nani by a 6-4 score on court two.
- The only singles match to conclude on Friday was between Nilo Duarte (UNF) and Sturgill (Liberty). Duarte picked up a straight-sets victory (6-4, 6-2) on court four to square the match at 1-all.
- When play resumed on Saturday morning, Liberty senior Eddie Gutierrez (No. 5 singles) was two points away from winning his match with Nunez. Gutierrez claimed the first set 6-3, led 5-3 in the second and was on serve leading 30-15. Gutierrez quickly put away Nunez with two straight points to pick up a 6-3, 6-3 win.
- Gutierrez's victory provided the Flames a 2-1 edge. The senior closes his Liberty career with 70 singles triumphs, the sixth most in program history.
- The Flames' Salas claimed the first set 6-4 over Nani on court six but trailed 4-3 and was down 40-30 on serve when action resumed on Saturday morning. Salas delivered with two overpowering serves to win that game to make it 4-4. The Liberty junior then went on to win three of the next four games and the match (6-4, 7-5) for a 3-1 Flames advantage.
- Liberty's Wilson got off to a strong start early Saturday morning on court two, leading 4-2 in his third set with Barton. Barton answered by winning the last four games to take the match 6-4, 0-6, 6-4. The UNF second team all-conference performer's triumph trimmed the Liberty lead to 3-2.
- Flames junior Chase Burton (No. 3 singles) topped the Ospreys' Von Winning 6-4 in the opening set on Friday, and when play was stopped, Burton led 4-3 in the second set. Von Winning came back to win the second set 6-4 and then defeated Burton in the third by a 6-3 score. The Ospreys senior's 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 effort evened the score at 3-3.
- Muamba lost for just the second time in the last 10 matches. The ASUN Player of the Year won 26 singles matches during the 2018-19 campaign, the third most in a single season in Liberty men's tennis program history.
- Liberty (12-11) finishes above .500 for the first time since the 2015 campaign. That year, the Flames posted a 14-10 mark.
- The Flames and Ospreys split the season series, with both matches being decided by a 4-3 score. In both instances, it was a senior who secured the match-clinching fourth point. Deshmukh of UNF earned the deciding point today, while Liberty's Gutierrez sealed the match for Liberty on April 6 in Lynchburg.
- This was Liberty's first-ever ASUN Tournament match. This was only the second time in program history that Liberty had received the No. 2 seed for a conference championship.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
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#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:
4,5,6,2,3,1