.png&width=100&height=100&type=webp)
Saturday, January 27
Lynchburg, Va.
12:00 PM ET
Liberty University
6
vs
1
James Madison
Newcomers Shine as Liberty Picks up Two Victories in Doubleheader
1/27/2024 9:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty men's tennis stretched out its roster on a Saturday doubleheader and used key contributions from 2024 newcomers to beat James Madison 6-1 and top Longwood 7-0.
The Flames improve to 4-1 with their fourth-straight victory. James Madison dropped to 1-3 and Longwood begins the season 0-1.
Four newcomers to the Flames' tennis team made huge impressions on Saturday. All three true freshmen Matija Samardzic (4-0 combined) Rodrigo Santiago Arraez (2-0) and Romeo Hadzimehmedovic (1-0 singles, 1-1 doubles), showed they could all be key pieces in 2024. Redshirt freshman Chase Robinson (2-0 singles) added a boost to the lineup. The new faces on the team gave Liberty a chance to rest key athletes in the nightcap against Longwood.
Arraez and Robinson share a 4-0 singles record to kick off the 2024 season and their Liberty spring season careers. Before this season, no freshman under head coach Derek Schwandt had achieved a 3-0 start to a spring season.
Including Robinson, four Flames, along with Thando Longwe-Smit, Luis Felipe Miguel and Samardzic, recorded two singles wins on Saturday. Two Flames, Miguel and Samardzic, enjoyed a successful 4-0 day (2-0 singles, 2-0 doubles).
Liberty boosts its record to 6-14 facing JMU and improves to 21-6 against the Lancers.
Thoughts from Assistant Coach Kyle Seelig
"It was a really good day, a long day. We came out and got done what we needed to get done. They beat a pretty decent team in JMU and improved to 4-1 beating Longwood now. It's been nice to be home for a couple of weeks and grab a couple wins before we go on the road to play Princeton."
Liberty 6, James Madison 1
Singles Competition
1. R Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. Youssef Sadek (JMU) 6-0, 6-2
2. Julian Lozano (JMU) def. Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) 6-4, 6-4
3. Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Esteve Agusti (JMU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Francisco Sinopoli (JMU) 6-0, 6-1
5. Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Markus Giersiepen (JMU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) def. Harrison Lee (JMU) 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 1-0 (11-9)
Doubles Competition
1. Esteve Agusti/Aathreya Mahesh (JMU) def. R Hadzimehmedovic/Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) 6-2
2. Thando Longwe-Smit/R Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. Julian Lozano/Youssef Sadek (JMU) 6-0
3. Matija Samardzic/Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Edson Sanchez/Francisco Sinopoli (JMU) 7-6 (7-2)
James Madison 1-3
Liberty 3-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,1,3,2,5,6)
Official: R Sanders, D Amos T-3:13
How it Happened
Liberty 7, Longwood 0
Singles Competition
1. Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Timeo Puech (LU) 7-5, 6-0
2. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Alejandro Hernandez (LU) 6-3, 6-1
3. Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Petar Belosevic (LU) 6-4, 6-1
4. R Santiago Arraez (LIBERTYM) def. Alejandro Uribe (LU) 6-4, 6-1
5. R Hadzimehmedovic (LIBERTYM) def. Lorenzo Meschini (LU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) def. Luis Reis (LU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Competition
1. R Hadzimehmedovic/Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. Timeo Puech/Petar Belosevic (LU) 6-1
2. Luis Felipe Miguel/Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Alejandro Hernandez/Alejandro Uribe (LU) 6-3
3. R Santiago Arraez/Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) vs. Luis Reis/Seva Rusin (LU) 5-2, unfinished
Longwood 0-1
Liberty 4-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,5,6,1,3,4)
Official: D Amos, P Behser T-2:12
How it Happened
Up Next
Liberty hits the road for a test at Princeton (1-3) on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. The Flames fell 6-1 in their only previous match with the Tigers in 2019.
The Flames improve to 4-1 with their fourth-straight victory. James Madison dropped to 1-3 and Longwood begins the season 0-1.
Four newcomers to the Flames' tennis team made huge impressions on Saturday. All three true freshmen Matija Samardzic (4-0 combined) Rodrigo Santiago Arraez (2-0) and Romeo Hadzimehmedovic (1-0 singles, 1-1 doubles), showed they could all be key pieces in 2024. Redshirt freshman Chase Robinson (2-0 singles) added a boost to the lineup. The new faces on the team gave Liberty a chance to rest key athletes in the nightcap against Longwood.
Arraez and Robinson share a 4-0 singles record to kick off the 2024 season and their Liberty spring season careers. Before this season, no freshman under head coach Derek Schwandt had achieved a 3-0 start to a spring season.
Including Robinson, four Flames, along with Thando Longwe-Smit, Luis Felipe Miguel and Samardzic, recorded two singles wins on Saturday. Two Flames, Miguel and Samardzic, enjoyed a successful 4-0 day (2-0 singles, 2-0 doubles).
Liberty boosts its record to 6-14 facing JMU and improves to 21-6 against the Lancers.
Thoughts from Assistant Coach Kyle Seelig
"It was a really good day, a long day. We came out and got done what we needed to get done. They beat a pretty decent team in JMU and improved to 4-1 beating Longwood now. It's been nice to be home for a couple of weeks and grab a couple wins before we go on the road to play Princeton."
Liberty 6, James Madison 1
Singles Competition
1. R Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. Youssef Sadek (JMU) 6-0, 6-2
2. Julian Lozano (JMU) def. Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) 6-4, 6-4
3. Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Esteve Agusti (JMU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Francisco Sinopoli (JMU) 6-0, 6-1
5. Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Markus Giersiepen (JMU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) def. Harrison Lee (JMU) 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 1-0 (11-9)
Doubles Competition
1. Esteve Agusti/Aathreya Mahesh (JMU) def. R Hadzimehmedovic/Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) 6-2
2. Thando Longwe-Smit/R Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. Julian Lozano/Youssef Sadek (JMU) 6-0
3. Matija Samardzic/Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Edson Sanchez/Francisco Sinopoli (JMU) 7-6 (7-2)
James Madison 1-3
Liberty 3-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,1,3,2,5,6)
Official: R Sanders, D Amos T-3:13
How it Happened
- Liberty cruised to a lead in the doubles round on court two. Rafael Marques Da Silva and Thando Longwe-Smit, who have primarily been slotted in the No. 1 slot, quickly dispatched Julian Lozano and Youssef Sadek 6-0.
- The Flames No. 1 doubles pair, Deji Thomas-Smith and Romeo Hadzimehmedovic, struggled to build rallies as Esteve Agusti and Aathreya Mahesh topped the Flames' pair 6-2.
- In the clinching match, Liberty's Luis Felipe Miguel and Matija Samardzic faced a 4-2 deficit to Edson Sanchez and Francisco Sinopoli. The Flames' duo battled throughout the match, correcting multiple unforced errors, and faced two clinching games down at 5-4 and 6-5. The duo forced a tiebreaker and sprinted ahead 4-0 to secure the doubles point and the 7-6 (7-2) final.
- Longwe-Smit cruised on court four to secure the first singles point over Sinopoli 6-0, 6-1.
- Liberty established a commanding lead on court one with Marques Da Silva rolling Sadek 6-0, 6-2.
- Liberty's No. 2 doubles pair combined to drop just three games combined in their matches.
- The Flames clinched the win in the No. 3 singles match with Miguel topping Agusti 6-2, 6-2. Miguel was involved in the clinching matches in both the singles and doubles rounds.
- James Madison grabbed its first point on court two. Thomas-Smith was unable to hold leads in both sets, falling to Lozano 6-4, 6-4.
- Court six saw a marathon match between Robinson and Lee. The two shared blows with neither establishing a lead throughout the first set and the ensuing tiebreaker as Lee pulled ahead 7-6 (9-7).
Liberty 7, Longwood 0
Singles Competition
1. Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Timeo Puech (LU) 7-5, 6-0
2. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Alejandro Hernandez (LU) 6-3, 6-1
3. Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Petar Belosevic (LU) 6-4, 6-1
4. R Santiago Arraez (LIBERTYM) def. Alejandro Uribe (LU) 6-4, 6-1
5. R Hadzimehmedovic (LIBERTYM) def. Lorenzo Meschini (LU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) def. Luis Reis (LU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Competition
1. R Hadzimehmedovic/Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. Timeo Puech/Petar Belosevic (LU) 6-1
2. Luis Felipe Miguel/Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Alejandro Hernandez/Alejandro Uribe (LU) 6-3
3. R Santiago Arraez/Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) vs. Luis Reis/Seva Rusin (LU) 5-2, unfinished
Longwood 0-1
Liberty 4-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,5,6,1,3,4)
Official: D Amos, P Behser T-2:12
How it Happened
- Liberty secured the doubles point with a pair of Liberty duos grabbing their second win of the day. On court one, Hadzimehmedovic and Thomas-Smith blistered Timeo Puech and Petar Belosovich 6-1.
- The Flames secured the doubles point in the No. 2 doubles match as Miguel and Samardzic rolled Alejandro Hernandez and Alejandro Uribe 6-3. The Liberty pair improves to 3-0 on the season together.
- Longwe-Smit (3-1) snagged the first singles point of the match, similar to the prior match against JMU. The senior sprinted by Alejandro Hernandez 6-3, 6-1. Longwe-Smit dropped just five games across the doubleheader.
- In just his second career singles match, Hadzimehmedovic (2-0) bested Lorenzo Meschini 6-3, 6-2 on court five.
- Liberty clinched the match on court six as Robinson (4-0) dispatched Luis Reis 6-2, 6-1. The redshirt freshman shares a team-high four singles victories in 2024.
- In his first career match in the No. 1 position, Miguel battled in the first set and dominated Timeo Puech in the second set to win 7-5, 6-0.
- To earn the sixth point, Samardzic topped Belosovich 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 3 singles match.
- Liberty secured the sweep on court four with Rodrigo Santiago Arraez handling Alejandro Uribe 6-4, 6-1. Arraez joins Robinson with a team-high four singles victories.
Up Next
Liberty hits the road for a test at Princeton (1-3) on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. The Flames fell 6-1 in their only previous match with the Tigers in 2019.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3
#1 Singles Match
12
Youssef Sadek / 0 [JMU]
02
66
#2 Singles Match
12
Julian Lozano / 0 [JMU]
66
44
#3 Singles Match
12
Esteve Agusti / 0 [JMU]
22
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Francisco Sinopoli / 0 [JMU]
01
66
#5 Singles Match
12
Markus Giersiepen / 0 [JMU]
35
67
#6 Singles Match
123
Harrison Lee / 0 [JMU]
720
661
Order of Finish:
4,1,3,2,5,6
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Coach Connell Talks About The Win Over KSU
Thursday, April 17
Joaquim Almeida Talks About The Upcoming CUSA Tournament
Tuesday, April 15
Daniella O'Neill Talks About The Upcoming CUSA Tournament
Tuesday, April 15
Joaquim Almeida: Finding the Lord and Liberty
Friday, April 11