Liberty University
Old Dominion
Flames Down Monarchs 5-2, Extend Home Winning Streak to 16
2/20/2022 6:07:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Liberty downed visiting Old Dominion 5-2, Sunday afternoon at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center, extending its home winning streak to 16 matches.
Liberty bolsters its record this season to 3-4 and has won two of its last three matches. The Flames improve to 2-0 at home in 2022. ODU slips to 4-4 this year and sees a two-match winning streak snapped.
Liberty's 16-match home winning streak started over two years ago. The Flames' last setback at home came on Feb. 7, 2020 (4-3 to VCU), a span of 744 days.
Liberty 5, Old Dominion 2
Singles Competition
- #40 Francois Le Tallec (ODU) def. Nicaise Muamba (LIBERTYM) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
- Josh Wilson (LIBERTYM) def. Luca Maldoner (ODU) 7-5, 6-2
- Younes Lalami (ODU) def. R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
- Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) def. Yevhen Sirous (ODU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
- Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. Codie Van Schalkwyk (ODU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
- Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Oliver Nolan (ODU) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4
Doubles Competition
- Christiaan Worst/Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. Luca Maldoner/Yevhen Sirous (ODU) 7-6 (9-7)
- Nicaise Muamba/R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. Younes Lalami/Oliver Nolan (ODU) 6-2
- Francois Le Tallec/Codie Van Schalkwyk (ODU) def. Josh Wilson/Goncalo Ferreira (LIBERTYM) 7-5
Liberty 3-4
Old Dominion 4-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,3,5,6,4,1)
Official: J Conley/K Zimmerman T-4:17Â
How It Happened
• Liberty won the doubles point in thrilling fashion, securing a 1-0 lead by winning a tiebreaker on court one. The Flames claimed four of the six singles contests, winning in the No. 2, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Four of the six singles matches needed three sets to settle a winner.
• In that deciding doubles match, the Flames' Deji Thomas-Smith and Christiaan Worst prevailed 7-6 (9-7) over the Monarchs' Luca Maldoner and Yevhen Sirous. Thomas-Smith and Worst faced match point (down 7-6) before scoring the final three points to claim the match.
• Liberty's other doubles win came from Nicaise Muamba and Rafael Marques Da Silva, 6-2 over Younes Lalami and Oliver Nolan in the No. 2 slot.
• ODU's one doubles triumph was courtesy of Francois Le Tallec and Codie van Schalkwyk. The Monarchs' No. 3 duo edged Josh Wilson and Goncalo Ferreira of the Flames 7-5.
• ODU held leads in the early going in five of six singles matches and won first sets on court three, five and six. The Flames' Wilson (No. 2) and Worst (No. 4) flipped their respective first sets, with Wilson erasing a 4-1 deficit to Maldoner to win 7-5 and Worst coming back from 4-2 down to Sirous to win 6-4.
• Wilson was the first Flame to close out his singles contest, as he took 12 of the final 15 games from Maldoner in a 7-5, 6-2 win.
• Trailing 2-0, the Monarchs answered with their first point of the day from Lalami, 6-3, 7-6 (5) over Marques Da Silva on court three.
• Liberty regained a two-point edge (3-1) when Thomas-Smith (No. 5 singles) battled back from a set down to van Schalkwyk to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
• Similar to Thomas-Smith, Flames No. 6 singles player Thando Longwe-Smit lost his opening set to Nolan, 6-1. Longwe-Smit also trailed 4-3 in the set two before winning 7-5 to force a third set. In the third set, Longwe-Smit broke a 4-4 tie with Nolan, winning the next two games for the 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 triumph. The victory provided the home side its match-clinching fourth point of the day and a 4-1 lead.
• After trading sets, the Flames' Worst (No. 4 singles) and the Monarchs' Sirous went to a third set. Worst won the final set 6-3 for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 overall and a 5-1 Flames advantage.
• Looking for his sixth career ranked singles win as a Flame, Liberty's Muamba (No. 1 slot) fell in a third set tiebreaker to No. 40 Le Tallec, with Le Tallec prevailing 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6).
• This is Liberty's second-ever win over ODU. The Flames bested the Monarchs 4-3 a season ago (Feb. 1, 2021). Liberty has topped ODU in two of the last three meetings.
• Sunday's match lasted four hours and 17 minutes, the Flames' second straight match of four hours or longer.
Next Up
• The Flames will be back in action next Saturday for a road match against the Miami Hurricanes (7-1). First serve is set for noon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
• Liberty is 0-3 all-time against Miami. The Hurricanes topped the Flames 7-0 in the 2020 season opener.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,5,6,4,1
