No. 48 Liberty to Take on Kennesaw State in ASUN Championship Semifinals
4/22/2021 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Live Scoring: No. 48 Liberty vs. Kennesaw State (Friday)
Live Scoring: TBA (Saturday)
Live Video: Championship Match (Saturday) (ESPN+)
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The No. 48-ranked Liberty Flames men's tennis team will square off with the Kennesaw State Owls in the 2021 ASUN Men's Tennis Championship semifinals, Friday morning. Match time is 9 a.m. at the UNF Tennis Complex in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Flames, enjoying their best season in school history with an 18-7 record, earned the No. 1 seed in the ASUN North Division. Liberty went 6-0 in regular season conference matches and defeated the North Division's No. 4 seed, Bellarmine, last Saturday by a 4-0 score to advance to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Kennesaw State (7-11) is the No. 3 seed from the ASUN South Division. The Owls finished with a 2-3 record in the South Division. KSU edged the South Division's No. 2 seed, Stetson, last Saturday by a 4-3 score to move on.
The winner of Friday morning's match will meet the winner of the the match between ASUN South Division No. 1 seed FGCU (7-5) and ASUN North Division No. 2 seed Lipscomb (9-6) in Saturday's championship match. That match will get started at 10 a.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
2021 ASUN Men's Tennis Championship – UNF Tennis Complex – Jacksonville, Fla.
Friday, April 23 – Semifinals
No. 1 North seed No. 48 Liberty (18-7) vs. No. 3 South seed Kennesaw State (7-11), 9 a.m.
No. 1 South seed FGCU (7-5) vs. No. 2 North seed Lipscomb (9-6), 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, April 24 – Final
Winners of semifinals, 10 a.m. – ESPN+
History in ASUN Championship
The Flames are making their second appearance in the ASUN Championship. Liberty lost 4-3 to North Florida in the 2019 ASUN Championship semifinals. The 2020 ASUN Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Liberty earned its first-ever victory in the ASUN Tournament last Saturday, defeating Bellarmine 4-0 in the quarterfinals.
Prior to the season, the Flames were picked to finish second in the conference's preseason poll, behind only FGCU.
Series History vs. the Field
Liberty vs. Kennesaw State: Liberty leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Liberty defeated Kennesaw State 5-2 on March 23, 2019 in its inaugural ASUN match.
Liberty vs. FGCU: FGCU leads 2-0
Last Meeting: FGCU defeated Liberty 6-1 on April 11, 2019 in Fort Myers, Fla.
Liberty vs. Lipscomb: Liberty leads 3-0
Last Meeting: Liberty has defeated Lipscomb twice this spring. The Flames bested the Bisons 6-1 in Lynchburg (April 1) and 5-2 in Nashville (March 21).
Flames News and Notes
• Liberty is currently ranked No. 48 in the country in the ITA Computer Team Ranking Top 50 and No. 49 in the country in the ITA Coaches Top 50 poll. The Flames have been ranked as high as No. 40 in the nation on separate occasions this spring.
• Nicaise Muamba is currently ranked No. 94 in the country in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men's Singles Rankings.
• The Flames have established a new school record with 18 wins in 2021. Liberty earned its record-setting 17th win with a 5-2 triumph over Charlotte on April 11. The previous record of 16 victories had been held for 31 years by the 1990 Liberty squad.
• Liberty picked up its 18th win of the season by defeating Bellarmine 4-0 last Saturday in the ASUN Championship quarterfinals. It was the Flames' first-ever win in ASUN Tournament play.
• The Flames led the conference with nine ASUN Player of the Week awards in the regular season. Rafael Marques Da Silva led the team with four ASUN Player of the Week honors, followed by Muamba with three awards. Josh Wilson and Deji Thomas-Smith earned one award each.
• Liberty is one of four schools from the state of Virginia in the ITA Top 50. The Flames are joined by No. 6 Virginia, No. 35 Virginia Tech and No. 40 VCU.
• Collectively, the Flames are 90-52 (.634) in singles and 38-23 (.623) in doubles.
• Marques Da Silva (17-6) and Muamba (16-5) lead the way for Liberty in singles. Thomas-Smith (13-8), Thando Longwe-Smit (11-4) and Christiaan Worst (11-9) all have 10 or more singles victories, while Wilson is 8-5 on the season.
• The Flames' most successful doubles unit has been Muamba and Marques Da Silva (14-5). Since moving into the No. 2 slot, the pairing is 7-3. Liberty's No. 1 team, Thomas-Smith and Worst, is 9-6 overall. The Flames' No. 3 pairing, Wilson and Steve Mundt, is 6-0 since joining forces on March 31.
• Liberty finished 12-0 at home this season. The Flames are 6-6 on the road and 0-1 in neutral site contests.
