Men’s Tennis hits road block versus Radford

Liberty University’s men’s tennis team was defeated 5-2 Thursday by the nationally ranked Radford Highlanders. Junior Siim Tuus and sophomore Shea Thomas gave the Flames their two points as they won the No. 1 and No. 2 matches respectively.

Battle tested — The Flames were unable to put a blemish on Radford’s conference record. Photo credit: Ruth Bibby

Despite winning the top two singles points, Liberty failed to hand Radford its first conference loss of the season.

“Radford stretched us out a lot,” head coach Chris Johnson said. “They revealed to us some things we need to work on for the conference championships.”

The Flames had the lead in all three doubles matches but were unable to hold on in two of them, costing the Flames the all important doubles point.

“We just lost momentum,” Johnson said. “We had several chances to go up and we kept allowing them to hang around ,and we can’t do that against good teams. We had a problem with closing matches here today.”

Tuus defeated sophomore Nicholas Sayer 6-4, 6-4. Sayer was ranked No. 105 in the country heading into the match and is the reigning Big South Freshman of the Year. Winning a match against a ranked opponent was a big boost of confidence for Tuus.

“It was a good win against a ranked player,” said Tuus. “I need to stay focused, though, and not get comfortable with my game. I need to keep improving.”

Throughout the match Tuus could be heard telling himself to focus on closing out each game.

Tuus finished the regular season with a singles record of 14-6 and is looking to take that success into the post season.

Thomas defeated senior Igor Ogrizek in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Thomas kept Ogrizek off balance, forcing him to run side to side.

Thomas controlled the tempo the entire match and was able to hit the ball where he wanted to.

“I have been playing really well as of late and I just need to continue to play my game,” Thomas said. “I have got to get my first serve percentage back to where it needs to be and work on my court coverage.”

If Thomas can do those things, he will be a key factor in determining how far the Flames can advance in the conference tournament.

Thomas finished the regular season with a singles record of 10-10.

“We know we have a strong doubles squad and we were able to see where we needed to improve,” Johnson said. “We took the top two points from [Radford] which was huge for us heading into the tournament.”

Johnson said the Flames will have to do a better job of closing out matches and games if they want to make a run for a conference championship.

The match was the first ever Liberty tennis match streamed live on the Big South Network.

“It is great for our program to gain that exposure,” Johnson said.

The Big South conference Tournament will be held Thursday, April 19 – Saturday, April 21 in Asheville, N.C. The Flames will find out Sunday who they will be matched up against.

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