Texas Tech Tops Liberty 6-1

LUBBOCK, TEXAS. – The Lady Flames battled throughout, making comeback pushes in multiple matches, but ultimately fell to Texas Tech 6-1 on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Raiders secured the doubles point as Liberty's no. 1 pair of Maria Juliana Parra Romero and Tiffany Nguyen came up just short of topping No. 5 Metka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova. The Liberty pair jumped out ahead but ran out of time with the two leading 5-3 as the match went unfinished.

Redshirt freshman Daniella O'Neill picked up Liberty's sole victory with an impressive comeback win against Jermine Sherif. O'Neill dropped a tight first set 6-4 before storming back to take the second set 6-1. The tiebreaker was tightly contested, but O'Neill prevailed for the 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8) triumph.

The Lady Flames fall to 1-1 in the young season. Liberty falls to 2-4 against Big 12 teams in its first-ever matchup with Texas Tech.

Thoughts from Head Coach Jeff Maren
"Texas Tech is a talented and well-coached team. They outplayed us in key moments, but our team showed great heart, effort, and fearlessness and for that, I am so proud of them! The key ingredients to a successful team are there for us. We are already looking forward to our next match."

Texas Tech 6, Liberty 1

Singles Competition
1. #69 Cristina Tiglea (TTU) def. M. Juliana P. Romero (LIBERTYW) 6-2, 7-5
2. Mariya Polishchuk (TTU) def. Esther Lovato (LIBERTYW) 7-5, 6-2
3. Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) def. Marina Davtyan (LIBERTYW) 6-0, 2-6, 6-2
4. Metka Komac (TTU) def. Maria Turchetto (LIBERTYW) 6-4, 6-1
5. Andreea Lila (TTU) def. Tiffany Nguyen (LIBERTYW) 6-2, 6-0
6. Daniella O'Neill (LIBERTYW) def. Jermine Sherif (TTU) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8)

Doubles Competition
1. #5 Metka Komac/Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) vs. M. Juliana P. Romero/Tiffany Nguyen (LIBERTYW) 3-5, unfinished
2. Cristina Tiglea/Mariya Polishchuk (TTU) def. Marina Davtyan/Maria Turchetto (LIBERTYW) 6-2
3. Andreea Lila/Jermine Sherif (TTU) def. Esther Lovato/Sadie Daavettila (LIBERTYW) 6-1

Liberty 1-1
Texas Tech 1-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,2,1,3,5,6)
T-3:51

How it Happened

Texas Tech jumped out ahead with a quick win in the No. 3 doubles match as Esther Lovato and Sadie Daavettila fell to Andreea Lila and Sherif 6-1.
The Red Raiders secured the doubles point as Cristina Tigle and Mariya Polishchuk bested Marina Davtyan and Maria Turchetto 6-2.
Komic (Texas Tech) secured the first singles point with a dominant second set to take the match over Turchetto 6-4, 6-1.
Texas Tech picked up a third point in the No. 2 match after a tight first set between Lovato and Polishchuk. The Red Raider settled in during the second set to take the match 7-5, 6-2.
The Red Raiders clinched the match on court one but had to fight off a fierce comeback attempt by Parra Romero. No. 69 Tiglea took the first set comfortably but had to battle back to earn the 6-2, 7-5 victory.
Court three saw major momentum swings after Komac took the first set over Davtyan 6-0. The Liberty senior charged back with a 6-2 second set win, but the Red Raider prevailed for the 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 win.
Senior Nguyen fought to a 6-2, 6-0 defeat to Lila.

Up Next
Liberty gets a week off before returning for two home matches with Missouri (Feb. 2) and JMU (Feb. 4) at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.

Schedule

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Sadie Daavettila

Marina Davtyan

Esther Lovato

Tiffany Nguyen

Daniella O'Neill Garcia

Maria Juliana Parra Romero

Maria Turchetto