Flames Finish Year Ranked 4th in ITA Atlantic Region

Oracle/ITA Division I Men's Rankings: Atlantic Region

After its best season in program history, the Liberty Flames men's tennis team wrapped up the year with a No. 4 Atlantic Region ranking in the 2021 Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I Regional Rankings.

Additionally, the Flames' Nicaise Muamba and Rafael Marques Da Silva were named among the top-20 players in the Atlantic Region in the singles rankings. Muamba finished the season as the No. 5-ranked player in the region, while Marques Da Silva earned a No. 13 ranking. Meanwhile, Liberty's Deji Thomas-Smith and Christiaan Worst garnered a No. 6 doubles ranking for the Atlantic Region.

This is the second time in Muamba's career in which he has been regionally ranked to end a season. In 2019, he finished the year as the ninth-ranked player in the Atlantic Region and also earned a No. 10 doubles ranking with partner Chase Burton. Marques Da Silva's regional ranking is the first of his career. Thomas-Smith and Worst are both being recognized among the region's best for the first time in their careers.

Muamba, Marques Da Silva, Thomas-Smith and Worst helped lead ASUN champion Liberty to its most successful season in school history, this past spring. The Flames posted a program-record 20 wins and captured their first conference title in program history, the ASUN Championship crown. Liberty was nationally ranked seven times during the 2021 campaign, including a program-best No. 39 mark in the final rankings (May 26).

Muamba earned his second career ASUN Player of the Year honor this spring and also an ASUN All-Conference first team honoree. A three-time ASUN Player of the Week this season, he posted a 16-5 mark in the No. 1 singles slot and a 4-1 record versus nationally-ranked competition.

The Laval, Quebec, Canada native was nationally ranked in singles in each of the final six rankings, including a season-best No. 82 ranking on March 30. Muamba is the only player in program history to garner a national singles ranking in three different seasons, doing so in each of the last three years. Muamba won his 50th singles match as a Flame on March 4 at home against Richmond and sports a 59-34 record (.634 winning percentage) in three seasons at Liberty.

The ASUN Championship MVP and an ASUN All-Tournament team selection, Marques Da Silva was also a unanimous selection to the ASUN All-Conference first team and made the ASUN All-Freshman squad. He posted a perfect 6-0 record at the ASUN Championship (3-0 No. 2 singles, 3-0 No. 2 doubles) and had a conference-best four ASUN Player of the Week accolades during the spring season.

Marques Da Silva led the team with 19 singles victories against only six setbacks. The native of São Paulo, Brazil earned his first career ranked singles win over Charlotte's No. 88 Ignasi de Rueda, April 11 at the Liberty Tennis Complex. Marques Da Silva was 9-2 at No. 2 singles and also had a pair of victories at No. 1 singles, six triumphs at No. 3 singles and four victories at No. 4 singles.

Thomas-Smith and Worst became the first doubles unit in school history to earn ASUN Doubles Pair of the Year honors. The duo won the most crucial doubles match of the year, 7-6 (4) over FGCU's Magnus Johnson and Max Damm in the ASUN Championship title match. That victory put the Flames ahead 1-0 in an eventual 4-0 triumph.

Thomas-Smith and Worst finished second on the squad with 10 doubles wins, posting a 10-6 record. They held a 7-4 record in the No. 1 slot and won seven of their final 10 matches overall. Thomas-Smith was also an ASUN All-Conference first team and All-Tournament team selection.