The Liberty men's tennis team posted a successful opening weekend to its 2008 fall season, recording a 17-11 mark in its matches at the Mary Washington Kickoff Tournament in Fredericksburg, Va., Friday and Saturday.

Returners Chad Simpson (Jr., Danville, Ill.) and Louis Steyn (Jr., Bloemfontein, South Africa) started strongly, with each notching 2-1 records in singles and combining to post a 2-1 mark in doubles.

After dropping his first singles match on Friday in three sets, Simpson rebounded on Saturday to take both of his matches. The junior Illinois native defeated Richmond's Matt Feely in identical 6-3, 6-3 sets in the morning, while downing Longwood's Austin Brawley 6-3, 6-1 later in the day.

Steyn opened the year on Friday, 6-3, 6-2 over Longwood's David Cardoso, and followed with a straight-set 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Longwood's Andre Lazarte, Saturday morning. In the afternoon, he dropped his final singles match in a tie breaker, 2-6, 6-3, 10-5.

The two juniors combined to win two of their three doubles matches. Simpson and Steyn defeated Mary Washington's Evan Goff and Bryce Parrish, 8-6, to open the weekend, Friday. Saturday, the pairing split its two matches, dropping its morning match, 8-5, to Carlos Garcia de Andoain and Brandon Lindsley of Longwood, while defeating the Richmond duo of Will Minter and Dylan Shrode, 8-6, in the afternoon.

Another returner enjoyed a strong start to the year, as Justin Coache (So., Concord, N.H.) won both his singles matches. After dropping the first set, Coache rallied for a 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 win on Friday against J.J. Proffitt of Mary Washington. Saturday, he defeated George Mason's Arjun Sanghvi, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Newcomer Gregorio Machado (Fr., Sao Paulo, Brazil) also played well in his Liberty debut, with a 4-1 record on the weekend. The freshman took both of his singles matches in straights, downing George Mason's Matt Vaughn, 6-1, 6-1, and Mary Washington's Zach Detweiler 6-3, 6-3. In doubles, Machado and partner Juan Reyes (Jr., Cali, Colombia) dropped their opening match on Friday, before rebounding for victories over the Mary Washington pairing of Ted Harvey and Zach McGonigal, 8-2, and Zach Schneider and Sanghvi of George Mason, 8-4.

As a team, Liberty finished the weekend with a 6-3 record in doubles, while recording an 11-8 mark in singles.

The Flames continue their fall schedule by participating in the University of North Carolina Tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C. The three-day tournament gets underway Friday.