Liberty Faces James Madison, Longwood in Saturday Doubleheader
1/25/2024 1:13:00 PM | Men's Tennis
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Flames tennis team looks to boost its record to 4-1 in 2024 as the team hosts local foes James Madison and Longwood on Saturday. First serve for the tilt with the Dukes (1-2) is set for 12 p.m. The match against the Lancers (0-0) will begin at 5:30 p.m. from the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.
Liberty (2-1) began the season with an encouraging 6-1 defeat to two-time defending national champion No. 1 Virginia on Jan. 13. The squad rebounded with back-to-back victories last Sunday over Radford (7-0 final) and George Mason (6-1 final).
The Flames look to build on a 5-14 series history with JMU and seek to continue their dominance over Longwood. Liberty is currently 20-6 against the Lancers.
Flames News & Notes
Opponents At-a-Glance
James Madison
Longwood
Liberty (2-1) began the season with an encouraging 6-1 defeat to two-time defending national champion No. 1 Virginia on Jan. 13. The squad rebounded with back-to-back victories last Sunday over Radford (7-0 final) and George Mason (6-1 final).
The Flames look to build on a 5-14 series history with JMU and seek to continue their dominance over Longwood. Liberty is currently 20-6 against the Lancers.
Flames News & Notes
- Liberty's No. 1 to begin 2024, Rafael Marques Da Silva, responded following a hard-fought 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 defeat to No. 1 Virginia's No. 22, Chris Rodesch. The senior went 4-0 last Sunday (2-0 doubles, 2-0 singles), not dropping a single set on the day.
- The Flames have rotated the No. 2 position, with Thando Longwe-Smit (0-1), Deji Thomas-Smith (1-0) and Luis Felipe Miguel (1-0) each receiving a spot in the slot.
- New faces to spring tennis have added huge boosts to Liberty's lineup. Redshirt freshman Chase Robinson went 2-0 in singles last Sunday. Three true freshmen, Rodrigo Santiago Arraez (3-0), Matija Samardzic (1-2) and Romeo Hadzimehmedovic (1-0) have shown a lot of promise in limited action with the Flames.
- Arraez kicked off his Liberty career with an impressive singles victory at No. 1 Virginia in the No. 6 position. The freshman rolled his opponents last Sunday en route to an impressive 3-0 start, the best start for a freshman to a Liberty spring singles career under head coach Derek Schwandt.
- Schwandt has mixed up his doubles lineups to begin 2024 but has consistently kept Marques Da Silva and Longwe-Smit together in the No. 1 doubles position.
Opponents At-a-Glance
James Madison
- JMU finished the 2023 spring season with a 12-10 record, falling to No. 70 Old Dominion 4-0 in the Sun Belt Conference Championship quarterfinals.
- The 2024 season kicked off similarly for JMU, playing at No. 1 Virginia on the same day as Liberty, but the Dukes fell 7-0 to the Cavaliers.
- The Dukes lost last season's No. 1, Holden Koons (14-7 spring singles). Youssef Sadek has played in the No. 1 position to begin 2024, earning a 2-1 singles record.
- JMU matched up with Queens (1-2) last Sunday, nearly completing a comeback from down 3-0. With the match tied at 3-3, the result came down to the No. 5 singles position, where Queens' Filippo Verdese came back himself to rally past JMU's Markus Gierspersen 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 for a 4-3 Royals victory.
Longwood
- Longwood concluded the 2023 spring season with a 7-13 record, failing to qualify for the Big South Championship.
- Saturday will be Longwood's 2024 spring season debut.
- Two of Longwood's top performers, No. 1 Guillermo Cagigas (3-14 spring singles) and Yoav Weinberg (5-9), have left the team. Timeo Puech is the probable No. 1 for Longwood entering 2024.
Players Mentioned
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