Friday, January 17
Lynchburg, Va.
10:00 AM ET
Liberty University
vs
Elon
Women’s Tennis to Open Spring Season at Home with Friday Doubleheader, Road Match Sunday
1/16/2025 10:26:00 AM | Women's Tennis
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty women's tennis steps into a new era with head coach Dash Connell with three matches this weekend to open the 2024-25 spring season. The Lady Flames host a set of matches on Friday against Elon at 10 a.m. and Longwood at 3 p.m. with both matches at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center. The team then sets off for a Sunday meeting at Clemson at 11 a.m. Both home matches will be streamed via Playsight.
Sunday's meeting will be the first all-time matchup between Clemson and Liberty in women's tennis. The Lady Flames seek their first-ever victory over an ACC opponent.
Liberty debuts a young and hungry squad featuring three returners from last season including Daniella O'Neill (redshirt sophomore), Sadie Daavettila (sophomore) and Maria Turchetto. O'Neill and Turchetto return after receiving 2024 CUSA All-Freshman team honors. The Lady Flames will introduce four international freshmen with Anika Lemus (Guatemala), Yoanna Radulova (Bulgaria), Yu-Yun Chen (Taiwan) and Celina Joseph (South Africa) set to make their spring debuts.
The Lady Flames enjoyed a productive fall season with just Joseph not participating (arrived in January). The team combined for a 28-16 singles mark and a 16-8 doubles record last semester. Liberty dominated the LU Hidden Dual (Nov. 1-3) with a 16-3 overall mark in the eight-team event. O'Neill and Turchetto were invited to compete in doubles at the prestigious ITA Conference Masters Championship on Nov. 11. The pair earned a 3-2 record at the event and went 8-4 as a duo for the season.
Liberty looks to build on a 2023-24 season that saw the Lady Flames finish with an 18-7 record (5-0 CUSA) and a runners-up finish in the CUSA Women's Tennis Championship.
Lady Flames News & Notes
Sunday's meeting will be the first all-time matchup between Clemson and Liberty in women's tennis. The Lady Flames seek their first-ever victory over an ACC opponent.
Liberty debuts a young and hungry squad featuring three returners from last season including Daniella O'Neill (redshirt sophomore), Sadie Daavettila (sophomore) and Maria Turchetto. O'Neill and Turchetto return after receiving 2024 CUSA All-Freshman team honors. The Lady Flames will introduce four international freshmen with Anika Lemus (Guatemala), Yoanna Radulova (Bulgaria), Yu-Yun Chen (Taiwan) and Celina Joseph (South Africa) set to make their spring debuts.
The Lady Flames enjoyed a productive fall season with just Joseph not participating (arrived in January). The team combined for a 28-16 singles mark and a 16-8 doubles record last semester. Liberty dominated the LU Hidden Dual (Nov. 1-3) with a 16-3 overall mark in the eight-team event. O'Neill and Turchetto were invited to compete in doubles at the prestigious ITA Conference Masters Championship on Nov. 11. The pair earned a 3-2 record at the event and went 8-4 as a duo for the season.
Liberty looks to build on a 2023-24 season that saw the Lady Flames finish with an 18-7 record (5-0 CUSA) and a runners-up finish in the CUSA Women's Tennis Championship.
Lady Flames News & Notes
- Liberty returns 28 spring singles victories from the 2023-24 season. Maria Turchetto leads returning players with a 13-9 singles record last season. The Lady Flames sophomore trio combined for 17 doubles victories last spring.
- Incoming freshmen collected a combined 16-8 singles mark this past fall. The three combined for an 8-3 doubles record.
- Liberty is 8-3 in their past 11 spring openers. The Lady Flames bested Queens 5-2 at home to open the 2024 spring season.
- Connell was hired as the fifth head coach in Liberty women's tennis program history last July. Connell has spent the last 15 seasons, 13 as a head coach, working with men's and women's tennis at Tyler Junior College (TJC). Connell led the Apaches to 11 total NJCAA national championships as a head coach.
- Joining Connell's coaching staff are Colby Meeks and former Lady Flame Elsa Kirch. Meeks played under Connell at TJC for three seasons (2009-11) before beginning his coaching career at Cameron of Oklahoma in 2014. Kirch played at Liberty for three seasons (2022-24) under head coach Jeff Maren.
- The Flames own a 3-4 all-time record against Elon and hold a17-4 mark facing Longwood.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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