No. 66 Liberty Resumes ASUN Play With Matches vs. KSU, EKU and Lipscomb

After winning its conference opener against Queens nearly two months ago on Jan. 26, No. 66 Liberty will resume conference play this weekend with a home match against the Kennesaw State Owls on Friday at 3 p.m., followed by road contests at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 3 p.m. and versus Lipscomb on Sunday at 7 p.m.

Friday’s home match between Liberty and KSU will be held at the Liberty Tennis Complex. Saturday’s match at EKU will be contested at the Greg Adams Tennis Center in Richmond, Ky. Sunday’s Liberty-Lipscomb match will be played at Vanderbilt’s Lummis Family Tennis Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The Flames (6-8, 1-0 ASUN) are looking to three-peat as ASUN Conference champions after going 6-2 league regular season competition last season and topping the No. 1-seeded FGCU Eagles 4-2 in the ASUN Championship final.

Liberty has seen plenty of success against these three programs, as the Flames are 4-1 versus Kennesaw State (7-4, 0-0 ASUN), 2-0 against Eastern Kentucky (3-10, 0-1 ASUN) and 4-0 facing Lipscomb (4-8, 1-0 ASUN).

The Flames are no strangers to three-match weekends after facing No. 31 Arizona State (lost 4-1), No. 67 Michigan State (won 4-1) and Boise State (lost 4-1) in the Diablos Tennis Tournament, hosted by Arizona State last weekend.

Liberty was picked to win the conference for a third straight year in the 2023 ASUN Men’s Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll. KSU was picked to finish fourth, EKU 11th and Lipscomb eighth.

Flames News and Notes

• The Flames are one of four ASUN squads with a 1-0 mark in league play so far. Liberty topped Queens 6-1 on Jan. 26 in what was the first conference match of the season for any ASUN teams.

• Liberty has leaned on doubles points in their wins this season, as the Flames carry the No. 74-ranked doubles team in the nation in the senior duo of Josh Wilson and Christiaan Worst (16-10 overall, 6-6 spring) have played their matches in the No.1 spot.

• Liberty’s doubles pairing of Luis Felipe Miguel and Deji Thomas Smith (8-3) have seen a lot of success in the No. 2 doubles spot and have won their last six matches playing together.

• The Flames have relied on Wilson to play all his matches in the No. 1 position this spring. Wilson has gone 6-8 this season and looks to bounce back from a 1-2 weekend.

• Liberty freshman Miguel sports a team-best 7-5 singles mark this spring. Miguel was named ASUN Player of the Week on March 8.

• Flames senior Worst sits right behind Felipe Miguel at 7-6 for the Spring. Worst has seen action in the No. 2, 3 and 4 positions and is coming off a 1-1 trip in Arizona. The senior was tabbed ASUN Player of the Week, March 1.

• The Flames are currently 4-4 at home but have only secured a 2-4 record (1-2 away, 1-2 neutral) away from Lynchburg.

• Liberty has achieved its 6-8 record by facing 10 teams that are currently ranked. With the latest ITA rankings, these teams include No. 12 Virginia, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 52 Washington, No. 48 Clemson, No. 36 VCU, No. 60 Penn State, No. 64 South Florida, No. 39 Arizona State No. 68 Michigan State and No. 59 Boise State.

• Kennesaw State comes to Lynchburg after falling 4-0 to No. 63 Florida Atlantic on the road, last Thursday.

• Eastern Kentucky and Lipscomb met on Sunday to kick off their ASUN schedule, with the Bisons taking 4-3 win on the road. The Colonels will meet Jacksonville State on Friday leading up to facing Liberty. Lipscomb is set to face Butler at home on Sunday morning before matching up with Liberty in the second leg of a doubleheader.

Main Photo at Top of Story: Christiaan Worst

No. 66 Liberty Resumes ASUN Play With Matches vs. KSU, EKU and Lipscomb

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