Flames News

Liberty Welcomes Charlotte to the Hill City on Tuesday

Stan Vaughan

After playing three matches in Hawaii last week over Spring Break, the Liberty Flames tennis team returns to Lynchburg for a contest against Charlotte on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.

The Flames are off to their best 12-match start in program history at 9-3, including a perfect 5-0 mark at home. Liberty posted a 1-2 ledger last week, defeating BYU Hawaii 7-2, before dropping tightly contested matches to No. 63 Idaho, 5-2, and Hawaii, 4-3.

Junior Shea Thomas paces the Flames with a 10-2 mark in singles play this year and is currently two victories behind Giancarlo Lemmi for the most singles wins in a season in program history.

Siim Tuus is second on the team this season with nine singles wins. The senior currently is second all-time in program history with 69 career singles wins. Tuus needs just three more victories to tie career leader Lemmi.

A trio of Flames, Jorge Azuero, Stan Vaughan and Egon Samaai, have eight singles wins apiece. As a team, Liberty is 55-16 in singles action.

Competing in the No. 1 doubles position, Thomas and Samaai top the squad with nine doubles victories on the year, while Segur and Azuero have eight wins as a tandem in the No. 2 spot. For the year, the Flames are a combined 23-10 in doubles tilts.

Charlotte enters tomorrow's match with a 9-5 overall record, but is just 1-3 on the road. A pair of 49ers have double digit win totals this season during dual matches. Massall Ferrer is 11-3, while Paul Cisti is 10-4 in singles play. Krzysztof Kwasniewicz and Ferrer have six wins as a doubles pair to pace the 49ers, as does the combination of Cisti and Alex Calott. Charlotte holds a 53-30 mark as a team in singles tilts and 23-14 in doubles matches.

This will be the second meeting between the Flames and the 49ers, with Liberty winning the first meeting in 2011 on the road, 6-1.

The Flames return to Big South play this weekend when they travel Rock Hill, S.C., on Friday to face Winthrop, before squaring off against Garner-Webb on Saturday in Boiling Springs, N.C. Match times are scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.