Flames to Open Season Against Defending NCAA Champion No. 1 Virginia and Tennessee Tech

The Liberty Flames men’s tennis squad will commence its spring 2023 season with matches on Thursday and Saturday. The Flames will host defending NCAA champion and No. 1 ranked Virginia (2-0), Thursday at 5 p.m. followed by Tennessee Tech (0-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Both contests will be held at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.

Promotional Items for Thursday

The first 50 fans will receive a Liberty t-shirt. Additionally, the first 100 fans to enter the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center will receive a tennis ball. Between doubles and singles, that tennis ball will be used to attempt to hit one of three targets. All of the balls that make it in the targets will be entered in a drawing to win a prize. There will be three prizes, including a merchandise pack, AirPods Pro and a Roku TV.

Flames News and Notes

• The Flames are the two-time defending ASUN Conference champions and were picked to finish first in the league in the 2023 ASUN Men’s Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll.

• Virginia holds a 11-0 edge in the all-time series. The two squads last met in the 2022 season opener, a 7-0 Cavaliers sweep on their home courts.

• Liberty will match up with Tennessee Tech for the first time in program history.

• The Flames are 15-21 all-time in season openers, including a 4-6 record over the last 10 years. Liberty last won a season opener in 2017, a 5-2 triumph over King. Since then, Liberty has faced exclusively Power-5 programs: Miami (Fla.) twice (2019 and 2020), Virginia twice (2021 and 2022) and Virginia Tech (2018) once.

• Liberty finished 2022 with a 6-1 record at home, with the loss coming in a 4-3 score to No. 60-ranked Florida Atlantic.

• Liberty finished the 2022 season with a 13-11 overall record and 6-3 ASUN mark. Liberty ended the year as the No. 66-ranked team in the country.

• The Flames return seven players from last year’s championship team, including the program’s all-time singles wins record holder, Josh Wilson. Liberty also welcomes back 2021 ASUN Championship MVP and 2022 ASUN All-Conference second team Rafael Marques Da Silva. Christiaan Worst, Deji Thomas-Smith, Thando Longwe-Smit, Zion Heaven and Goncalo Ferreira are also back for the Flames.

• The Flames competed in five fall-formatted events. Liberty’s Wilson and Worst made a deep run in the doubles main draw at the ITA All-American Championships, reaching the quarterfinals and finishing the week with a 5-1 record. The duo earned two ranked wins at the event and went on to finish the fall with a team-best 10 wins (10-4 record). On Oct. 22, Wilson set a new gram record for career singles wins with his 78th victory. Thando Longwe-Smit paced the Flames in singles this fall with a 10-2 mark.

• Liberty’s Men’s Tennis Coach Derek Schwandt is going into his sixth season as head coach and owns a 65-47 overall record with an 18-3 ASUN record.

• Virginia closed its 2022 NCAA championship season with a 28-5 overall record, 12-0 ACC mark and No. 1 team national ranking. The Cavaliers won the ACC title along with the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship. Virginia was also 12-0 at home in 2022. UVA opened its 2023 campaign with a pair of 7-0 home wins over UNCW and Richmond, last Sunday.

• Tennessee Tech finished last season with an 8-13 overall record and was voted to finish second in the Horizon League by the league’s 11 coaches. Tennessee Tech is winless in its first three matches, falling twice to No. 6 Tennessee (7-0 and 4-0 finals) and once to No. 14 Wake Forest (7-0 final).

Flames to Open Season Against Defending NCAA Champion No. 1 Virginia and Tennessee Tech

Related News

Related Videos