Liberty University
Jacksonville State
No. 2 Seed Liberty Advances to ASUN Semifinals with 4-0 Sweep of Jacksonville State
4/14/2023 6:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis
No. 2 seed Liberty took care of business versus the No. 7 Jacksonville State Gamecocks to advance to the semifinal of the ASUN Men's Tennis Championship.
Liberty, who entered the event ranked No. 71 in the country, swept JSU 4-0, Friday afternoon, in front of a lively home crowd at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.
Liberty improves to an overall record of 14-9 and keeps its hopes alive of winning a third straight ASUN Championship. The Gamecocks end their season with a 13-11 record.
The Flames won quick doubles matches on courts three and two to claim the doubles point. Liberty came out firing with a quick singles win on court six and nearly had simultaneous victories on neighboring courts three and five to advance to the semifinals.
Liberty will next travel to Jacksonville, Fla., with North Florida hosting the semifinal and finals rounds of the ASUN Championship. The Flames will face the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal match between No. 3 seed North Florida (14-6, 7-1 ASUN) and No. 6 seed North Alabama (9-9, 4-4 ASUN) in the ASUN Championship semifinals.
In their final home match of the season, the Flames thanked and said goodbye to their fans with the commanding sweep and leaving Lynchburg with an 8-4 home record for the spring.
#71 Liberty 4, Jacksonville State 0
Singles Competition
- Josh Wilson (LIBERTYM) vs. Xavier Sarda Marti (JSUM) 6-1, 5-5, unfinished
- R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) vs. Alin Fatu (JSUM) 6-3, 4-1, unfinished
- Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) def. Matei Palcau (JSUM) 6-1, 6-2
- Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) vs. Vanja Dobrnjac (JSUM) 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
- Beau Pelletier (LIBERTYM) def. Lucius Soller (JSUM) 6-2, 6-1
- Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Konstantin Benneman (JSUM) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles Competition
- Josh Wilson/Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) vs. Vanja Dobrnjac/Lucius Soller (JSUM) 5-5, unfinished
- Deji Thomas-Smith/Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Konstantin Benneman/Alin Fatu (JSUM) 6-2
- R. Marques Da Silva/Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Logan Haga/Xavier Sarda Marti (JSUM) 6-1
Jacksonville State 13-11
Liberty 14-9; National ranking #71
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,3,5)
2023 ASUN Men's Tennis Championship Quarterfinals
Official: R Sanders/A Svec T-1:54
How It Happened
• Liberty secured an initial doubles win on court three as Rafael Marques Da Silva and Thando Longwe-Smit (4-1) ousted Logan Haga and Xavier Sarda Marti 6-1.
• The Flames secured the doubles point in the No. 2 doubles match as Luis Felipe Miguel and Deji Thomas-Smith (13-5) took down Konstantin Benneman and Alin Fatu 6-2.
• Liberty went up 2-0 thanks to Thando Longwe-Smit (4-3) routing his foe Konstantin Benneman on court six with a swift 6-1, 6-1 victory.
• With simultaneous match points on neighboring courts, the No. 3 and No. 5 singles matches finished within seconds of one another.
• Christiaan Worst (12-8) secured his match on court three first by defeating Matei Palcau 6-1, 6-2.
• Beau Pelletier (12-6) followed with a stellar match of his own to snag the match-winning fourth point for Liberty by taking care of Lucius Soller with a 6-2, 6-1 final score. Pelletier is 9-1 in his last 10 matches.
• The Flames clinched the match at 4-0 leaving three matches unfinished. On all three remaining courts, Liberty secured at least the first set.
• The Flames have advanced to the ASUN Tournament semifinal round in all four of their seasons in the ASUN in which a championship has been contested.
Next Up
• Liberty will face the winner of No. 3 seed North Florida (14-6, 7-1 ASUN) vs No. 6 seed North Alabama (9-9, 4-4 ASUN) in the ASUN Championship Semifinals. The match will be on Friday, with first serve set for 11:30 a.m. from the UNF Tennis Complex in Jacksonville, Fla.
• UNF is hosting both the semifinals and the finals round of the ASUN Championship.
• The Flames are 4-0 all-time versus UNA and 2-1 facing UNF.
• Liberty last met North Alabama on March 24, earning a 7-0 sweep. The Flames last saw North Florida in 2022, sweeping the match 7-0 on April 14 when the Ospreys were ranked No. 70 in the country.
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Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#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:
6,3,5
Players Mentioned
