Flames falter against Eagles
Liberty men’s and women’s tennis teams experience setbacks, losing to Big South Conference foe Winthrop
It was a warm and sunny day at the Hershey Tennis Courts at Liberty University, but the Flames and Lady Flames left with everything but a warm and sunny feeling after both squads dropped their contests to Winthrop University Saturday, March 23.
The Eagles handed the Lady Flames their first home loss of the year, defeating Liberty 6-1. The men’s team did not fare much better, as the Eagles handled the Flames comfortably by a 5-2 margin.
Deuce — Egon Samaai has won two straight. Photo credit: Courtney Russo
The Lady Flames never recovered from losing their doubles point early on, with Winthrop’s pairing of Alice and Andressa Garcia defeating Liberty’s Rebekah Jenkins and Maria Khval, 8-7, and Ekin Gunaysu and Caitlin Cridland defeating Belen Rivera and Brittany Yang, 8-4. Liberty’s Cameron Richard and Valerie Thong took their match over Tijana Uzelac and Beth Williamson, 8-5, but it was not enough to win the point.
The Lady Flames only singles victory came from Nicola Wellman, who defeated Gunaysu in three sets.
After starting the year 3-0, the Lady Flames have struggled, dropping six of their past seven contests. They are now 8-8 overall and 3-2 in the Big South.
The men won their doubles point easily, with all three pairings defeating the Eagles pairings convincingly. However, the Flames dropped five of their six singles matches. Four of the Eagles five victories came in straight sets.
Flames sophomore Egon Samaai was the only player to record a win, defeating Steven Patrick 6-4, 6-2.
The Flames dropped to 0-2 in the Big South after the loss and 7-8 overall. The matches were the first of the year for the Flames at Hershey Courts after playing their first three matches at Lynchburg’s Sports Racket earlier in the year. Their next three matches are at home, including March 28 and 30 matchups with University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNC-Asheville) and Gardner-Webb University.
The Lady Flames will look to get their home record back on the right track next week as well with a home date with UNC-Asheville March 28, before traveling to Clinton, S.C. to take on Presbyterian March 30.