Liberty University
Lipscomb
No. 40 Flames Continue Home Success With 6-1 ASUN Victory Against Bisons
4/1/2021 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The 40th-ranked Liberty Flames continued their home success with a 6-1 ASUN Conference victory over the visiting Lipscomb Bisons on Thursday afternoon at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.
Liberty has won all eight of its matches at home in 2021. The Flames improve to 14-6 on the season and 4-0 in the ASUN after their second triumph over Lipscomb in less than two weeks. Liberty leads Lipscomb (2-2) and North Alabama by two games each in the ASUN North Division standings.
Liberty is 6-1 over its last seven matches. The recent surge has the Flames ranked No. 40 in the country, their best team ranking in school history.
The Bisons' overall mark is now 6-6 on the season.
#40 Liberty 6, Lipscomb 1
Singles Competition
1. #82 Nicaise Muamba (LIBERTYM) def. CAFFARENA, Pablo (LIP_M) 6-3, 7-5
2. R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. ORTEGON, Jorge (LIP_M) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
3. Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. BOGDANOVICH, Maksim (LIP_M) 6-1, 6-3
4. URIBE, Pedro (LIP_M) def. Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) 7-5, 6-4
5. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. GARCIA-NIETO, Gon. (LIP_M) 6-3, 7-5
6. Goncalo Ferreira (LIBERTYM) def. SALAS-TULLA, Carlos (LIP_M) 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles Competition
1. Deji Thomas-Smith/Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) def. ORTEGON, Jorge/URIBE, Pedro (LIP_M) 6-4
2. Nicaise Muamba/R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. CAFFARENA, Pablo/BOGDANOVICH, Maksim (LIP_M) 6-4
3. Josh Wilson/Steve Mundt (LIBERTYM) vs. GARCIA-NIETO, Gon./PENNY, Jake (LIP_M) 5-4, unfinished
Lipscomb 6-6, 2-2 ASUN
Liberty 14-6, 4-0 ASUN; National ranking #40
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (3,5,1,2,4,6)
Official: Williams/Zimmerman T-3:00
How It Happened
• Liberty earned the doubles point and picked up singles victories on courts one, two, three, five and six.
• Both Flames doubles wins came by 6-4 margins. The No. 1 unit, Deji Thomas-Smith and Christiaan Worst, topped Jorge Ortegon and Pedro Uribe, while No. 2 doubles team Nicaise Muamba and Rafael Marques Da Silva did the same against Pablo Caffarena and Maksim Bogdanovich.
• Liberty's Thomas-Smith (No. 3 singles), who earned his first ASUN Player of the Week honor last Wednesday, gave the hosts a 2-0 lead by virtue of a 6-1, 6-3 result versus his counterpart, Bogdanovich.
• Thando Longwe-Smit improved to 7-3 in singles with a two-set win against Gonzalo Garcia-Neto (6-3, 7-5) on court five. Moments after Longwe-Smit's win, No. 82 Muamba of the Flames won over Caffarena by an identical 6-3, 7-5 score on court one to make it 4-0 Liberty.
• Less than 30 seconds after Muamba's triumph, reigning and four-time ASUN Player of the Week Marques Da Silva padded the Flames lead with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win versus Ortegon on court two.
• Lipscomb's lone point today came from Uribe, who beat Worst in two lengthy sets, 7-5, 6-4.
• After losing his opening set to Carlos-Salas Tulla, Ferreira roared back to take his match in a third-set tiebreaker. His 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) triumph was his third straight win and made it 6-1 Flames.
• Liberty is now 3-0 all-time versus Lipscomb.
• The Flames' eight home wins in 2021 include three victories at the Liberty Tennis Complex (stadium courts), three victories at Crosswhite Athletic Club and two victories at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.
• Liberty holds a 3-1 record as a ranked team. The Flames have defeated No. 49 UNCW, Bellarmine and Lipscomb since breaking into the national rankings. Their only loss came to No. 41 Duke, Wednesday.
Next Up
• Liberty and North Alabama (4-10, 2-2 ASUN) will square off on Saturday afternoon at the Liberty Tennis Complex. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
• The Flames and Lions met on March 19 in Florence, Ala., a 7-0 Liberty sweep. Liberty holds a 2-0 edge in the all-time series.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
3,5,1,2,4,6