Friday, March 29
Tampa, Fla.
1:30 PM ET
Liberty University
4
at
2
South Florida
No. 55 Flames Sweep Florida Trip, Breezing Past No. 69 South Florida 4-2
3/29/2024 11:23:00 PM | Men's Tennis
TAMPA, Fla. – No. 55 Liberty men's tennis team was victorious in its sixth straight match, earning a 2-0 road trip in Florida by securing a 4-2 defeat of No. 69 South Florida on Friday. The Flames topped No. 45 Florida Atlantic 4-3 on Wednesday. Friday's match was held at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.
No. 55 Liberty (15-5) dropped another tight doubles point to give South Florida (9-12) an early advantage. Facing an uphill battle after dropping the first singles match, the Flames rattled off four consecutive match points on courts three, five, one and two to secure the victory.
In the No. 1 singles match, Rafael Marques Da Silva, who recently received his second consecutive Conference USA Athlete of the Week award, was pitted with a tough matchup against No. 48 Alvin Tudorica. The senior won a pivotal break point down 4-5, proceeding to take the next two games to earn the set. Marques Da Silva let a 5-2 lead slip away but responded with back-to-back games to secure the ranked victory.
Luis Felipe Miguel ground out a long tiebreaker in the first set of his singles match. Miguel later enjoyed the fruits o
Liberty improves to 6-3 away from Lynchburg. The Flames grab their first victory over South Florida in three attempts.
Thoughts from Head Coach Derek Schwandt
"It's an honor to compete for the Liberty Flames! We are building an attitude of responding from start to finish. Luis (Felipe Miguel) and Dej (Thomas-Smith) lost a tough doubles set, then competed like champions in singles. There were a lot of examples of guys responding on all six courts in singles. To God be all the glory and honor for this team."
#55 Liberty 4, #69 South Florida 2
Singles Competition
1. R Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. #48 Alvin Tudorica (USFM) 7-5, 7-5
2. Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Erik Grevelius (USFM) 7-6, 6-2
3. Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. Bruno Oliveira (USFM) 6-4, 6-4
4. Elijah Cham (USFM) def. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) 6-3, 6-4
5. R Santiago Arraez (LIBERTYM) def. Agustin Cuellar (USFM) 6-0, 7-5
6. T. Pavlekovich-Smith (USFM) vs. Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, unfinished
Doubles Competition
1. #55 Erik Grevelius/Alvin Tudorica (USFM) def. Deji Thomas-Smith/Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Ben Hudson/Bruno Oliveira (USFM) def. R Marques Da Silva/Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) 6-3
3. R Hadzimehmedovic/Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Davide Tortora/Elijah Cham (USFM) 6-2
Liberty 15-5; National ranking #55
South Florida Men 9-12; National ranking #69
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,3,5,1,2)
T-2:59
Doubles
Singles
Up Next
No. 55 Liberty comes back to Virginia but heads off for a road match at No. 41 VCU (8-9) on Friday. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
No. 55 Liberty (15-5) dropped another tight doubles point to give South Florida (9-12) an early advantage. Facing an uphill battle after dropping the first singles match, the Flames rattled off four consecutive match points on courts three, five, one and two to secure the victory.
In the No. 1 singles match, Rafael Marques Da Silva, who recently received his second consecutive Conference USA Athlete of the Week award, was pitted with a tough matchup against No. 48 Alvin Tudorica. The senior won a pivotal break point down 4-5, proceeding to take the next two games to earn the set. Marques Da Silva let a 5-2 lead slip away but responded with back-to-back games to secure the ranked victory.
Luis Felipe Miguel ground out a long tiebreaker in the first set of his singles match. Miguel later enjoyed the fruits o
Liberty improves to 6-3 away from Lynchburg. The Flames grab their first victory over South Florida in three attempts.
Thoughts from Head Coach Derek Schwandt
"It's an honor to compete for the Liberty Flames! We are building an attitude of responding from start to finish. Luis (Felipe Miguel) and Dej (Thomas-Smith) lost a tough doubles set, then competed like champions in singles. There were a lot of examples of guys responding on all six courts in singles. To God be all the glory and honor for this team."
#55 Liberty 4, #69 South Florida 2
Singles Competition
1. R Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. #48 Alvin Tudorica (USFM) 7-5, 7-5
2. Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) def. Erik Grevelius (USFM) 7-6, 6-2
3. Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) def. Bruno Oliveira (USFM) 6-4, 6-4
4. Elijah Cham (USFM) def. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) 6-3, 6-4
5. R Santiago Arraez (LIBERTYM) def. Agustin Cuellar (USFM) 6-0, 7-5
6. T. Pavlekovich-Smith (USFM) vs. Chase Robinson (LIBERTYM) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, unfinished
Doubles Competition
1. #55 Erik Grevelius/Alvin Tudorica (USFM) def. Deji Thomas-Smith/Luis Felipe Miguel (LIBERTYM) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Ben Hudson/Bruno Oliveira (USFM) def. R Marques Da Silva/Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) 6-3
3. R Hadzimehmedovic/Matija Samardzic (LIBERTYM) def. Davide Tortora/Elijah Cham (USFM) 6-2
Liberty 15-5; National ranking #55
South Florida Men 9-12; National ranking #69
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,3,5,1,2)
T-2:59
Doubles
- Moving down to No. 2 doubles, Rafael Marques Da Silva and Thando Longwe-Smit were unable to get past Ben Hudson and Bruno Oliveira.
- Liberty evened the doubles point on court three with Romeo Hadzimehmedovic and Matija Samardzic (2-0) handling Davide Tortora and Elijah Cham 6-2.
- The doubles point came down to an intense battle on court one. Deji Thomas-Smith and Luis Felipe Miguel, paired together for the first time this season after going 14-7 in 2023, forced a tiebreaker facing No. 55 Erik Grevelius and Alvin Tudorica. The South Florida pair gained separation after a tie at 4-4 and received the benefit of a bounce off the net on match point to secure the 7-6 (5) triumph to gain the doubles point for the Bulls.
Singles
- South Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the No. 4 singles match. Longwe-Smit (11-7) fell to Cham 6-3, 6-4.
- Liberty secured its first match point on court three. Thomas-Smith increased his singles match winning streak to 11 games, besting Oliveira 6- 4, 6-4.
- Freshman Rodrigo Santiago Arraez (11-2) got back to his winning ways after dropping two consecutive matches. Arraez held on after a furious rush, besting Cuellar 6-0, 7-5.
- The Flames gained a 3-2 lead on court one. Marques Da Silva (11-5) won timely games, earning crucial runs to slide by No. 48 Tudorica 7-5, 7-5.
- Liberty secured the match-winning fourth point with a statement victory from Miguel (12-6) in the No. 2 singles match. The sophomore ground out a long tiebreaker before running away with the second set to down Grevilus 7-6 (9), 6-2.
- With the match clinched, Chase Robinson and T. Pavlekovich-Smith ended knotted at one set a piece, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
Up Next
No. 55 Liberty comes back to Virginia but heads off for a road match at No. 41 VCU (8-9) on Friday. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,1
#1 Singles Match
12
77
Alvin Tudorica / 0 (48/-) [USFM]
55
#2 Singles Match
12
76
Erik Grevelius / 0 [USFM]
62
#3 Singles Match
12
66
Bruno Oliveira / 0 [USFM]
44
#4 Singles Match
12
34
Elijah Cham / 0 [USFM]
66
#5 Singles Match
12
67
Agustin Cuellar / 0 [USFM]
05
#6 Singles Match
123
660
T. Pavlekovich-Smith / 0 [USFM]
73UF
Order of Finish:
4,3,5,1,2
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
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