Liberty Prepares for Inaugural NIT Championship, Faces UC San Diego in 1st Round
5/16/2023 2:38:32 PM | Men's Tennis
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ASUN regular season champion Liberty was invited to compete in the first-ever Universal Tennis National Invitational Tennis (NIT) Championship. The No. 3 seed Flames will travel to Peachtree City, Ga., to take on UC San Diego in the first round on Thursday at 1 p.m..
The eight-team tournament will take place from Thursday through Saturday at the Peachtree City Tennis Center, and all matches will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
Eight total teams will participate in the inaugural event, with each team guaranteed two matches. The format will be playoff knockout rounds, with two matches guaranteed per team. First-round losers will get one extra match, and all matches count towards Verified UTR ratings. The NIT champion will need to win three matches in three days to claim the NIT title
Liberty looks to build on a strong 14-10 season that included a national ranking as high as No. 63 in the country. The Flames secured a share of the ASUN regular season title with a 7-1 league record. The spring included an 8-4 home record and a 4-4 record against nationally-ranked teams, including victories over No. 46 Penn State, No. 70 Charlotte, No. 67 Michigan State and No. 62 Old Dominion.
Liberty has a chance to end the 2023 season on a high note after falling in the ASUN Championship semifinal round by a 4-0 to North Florida on April 21.
Quarterfinal Matchups/Series History
No. 1 seed Vanderbilt vs. Reinhardt, Thursday, 8 a.m.
No. 1 seed Vanderbilt – Liberty has never faced No. 69 Vanderbilt (8-17), but there is a bit of familiarity as Flames fifth-year senior Christiaan Worst transferred from Vanderbilt in the summer of 2021. The Commodores’ season ended in the second round of the SEC Tournament in April in a tight 4-3 defeat to Texas A&M. Fourteeen of Vanderbilt’s 17 losses came to ranked opponents.
Reinhardt – Liberty has yet to face Reinhardt (10-4). The Eagles come out of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (NAIA), with Reinhardt taking the AAC regular season title. The Eagles fell in the AAC championship match, losing 4-1 to the Union Bulldogs.
No. 4 seed UC Davis vs. Army, Thursday, 10 a.m.
No. 4 seed UC Davis – Liberty has never faced UC Davis (14-7). The Aggies earned a share of the Big West regular season before tripping up against UC Irvine 4-1 in the Big West Championship semifinal round.
Army – The Flames have yet to face the Black Knights (19-12). Army had a strong 6-1 conference season in the Patriot League. The Blue Knights were taken down in the Patriot League semifinal 4-2 by Boston University.
No. 3 seed Liberty vs. UC San Diego, Thursday, 1 p.m.
UC San Diego – Liberty has yet to face UC San Diego (7-18). The Tritons are in their third year of NCAA Division I competition, achieving a 7-18 record this spring. UC San Diego was unable to capture a win in its Big West schedule and found itself outside of the Big West Championship field.
No. 2 seed Denver vs. The Citadel Thursday, 3 p.m.
No. 2 seed Denver – The Flames have yet to meet No. 60 Denver (15-8). The Pioneers secured the Summit League regular season title before being knocked off 4-1 by No. 69 Drake in the Summit League Championship final.
The Citadel – Liberty has met The Citadel (10-21) eight times in program history with a 2-6 record facing the program. The last meeting between the schools was in 2016 ,with the Flames earning a 7-0 sweep over the Bulldogs. The Citadel’s season initially came to an end after a first-round 4-0 sweep by ETSU in the SoCon Championship.
Flames News & Notes
• The Liberty men’s tennis team featured four honorees in the 2023 ASUN Conference Men’s Tennis Postseason Honors & Awards, led by ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year and first team all-conference selection Josh Wilson. Wilson earned his third straight ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and is now a four-time ASUN All-Conference selection (three first team, one second team) and three-time ASUN All-Academic team recipient. Joining Wilson on the ASUN All-Conference first team was junior Rafael Marques Da Silva, a three-time ASUN All-Conference recipient (two first team, one second team).
• The Flames’ Christiaan Worst and Luis Felipe Miguel both collected their first ASUN All-Conference honors, with the two players being selected to the third team. Worst was also an ASUN All-Academic team recipient, while Miguel was tabbed to the ASUN All-Freshman squad.
• If Liberty were to win the NIT title, it would be its fifth total crown in the last three seasons. The Flames won both the 2021 and 2022 ASUN Championship titles. Liberty also earned a share of the regular season title in 2023 in the ASUN and was a division champion in 2021.
• Liberty has collected a 14-10 overall record, including a 7-1 ASUN record plus an 8-4 home mark, 5-5 road record and 1-1 neutral site mark. The Flames earned a share of the ASUN regular season title.
• Three Liberty Flames, Wilson, Worst and Deji Thomas-Smith, were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Men’s Tennis Team® on May 9.
• Senior Wilson will have a chance to secure the program record for all-time doubles wins, Wilson is currently second in school history with 80. The Liberty record holder is Shea Thomas (2010-14) at 82 career doubles triumphs. The senior can also add to his program-leading 91 career singles wins.
• The Flames senior doubles duo of Wilson and Worst (10-8) achieved a No. 74 national ranking on March 7.
• Liberty achieved a season-high national ranking of No. 63 on April 4.
• The Flames will have four seniors, Wilson, Worst, Zion Heaven and Beau Pelletier, who all have the opportunity to play additional matches this spring in the inaugural NIT Championship.
• The Flames have earned two other postseason tournament berths in program history (2021 and 2022). Liberty, ranked No. 65 heading into the 2022 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship, fell 4-0 to No. 20 NC State in the first round.
