Liberty Turns in Dominant 9-2 Record Versus Penn State, Saturday

The Liberty men’s tennis team turned in a dominant 9-2 record versus Penn State on Saturday evening at the Liberty Indoor Tennis Center.

Day two of the Liberty Dual saw the Flames go 6-1 in singles and 3-1 in doubles against the Nittany Lions.

Collectively, Liberty is 11-4 in singles and 4-4 in doubles through two days of competition against Penn State and Clemson. The Flames’ Rafael Marques Da Silva, Thando Longwe-Smit and Deji Thomas-Smith sports 2-0 singles records so far at the event.

Key Stats & Notes

• Liberty opened the evening with a strong doubles session in which it won three of the four contests. On court one, the Flames’ Josh Wilson and Christiaan Worst defeated Charl Morgan and Miko Eala 6-1. The Liberty duo’s win was its team-best ninth of the fall campaign.

• Thando Longwe-Smit and Omar El Kadi became the only 2-0 Flames doubles unit this weekend with a 6-2 result over the duo of Andrei Paduraru and Harrison Janes.

• Liberty’s pairing of Deji Thomas-Smith and Rafael Marques Da Silva upended the Pranav Nemani and Ismail Saadi of the Nittany Lions 6-3.

• The Flames’ singles triumphs came from Wilson, Marques Da Silva, Beau Pelletier, Thomas-Smith, Longwe-Smit and Zion Heaven. Five of those six victories were in straight sets.

• For a second straight day, Marques Da Silva won in comeback fashion (three sets). The native of Brazil edged Eala (Penn State) 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4. After the win, his record stands at 7-3 in singles this season.

• Longwe-Smit and Thomas-Smith both improved to 2-0 this weekend. Longwe-Smit continued his strong play this fall with a 6-2, 6-4 result over Nemani to run his record to a team-best 10-1. Meanwhile Thomas-Smith defeated Saadi by a 6-2, 6-3 count.

• Wilson, Pelletier and Heaven each picked up their first singles wins at the tournament. Wilson, playing in the No. 1 slot, downed Morgan (PSU) 6-3, 6-3. Pelletier took down Bhatnagar in straight sets (6-4, 6-2) for the first home singles victory of his Flames career.

• Heaven’s seventh fall win was in two sets (6-1, 6-1) over his counterpart, Janes.

• Liberty and Penn State squared off at the Liberty Fall Hidden Dual exactly a year ago today (Nov. 5, 2021).

Up Next

The third and final day will pit Liberty and Commonwealth foe Old Dominion against each other. The hidden dual match will begin at 3 p.m.

Remaining Schedule

Sunday

10 a.m. – Clemson vs. Penn State

3 p.m. – Liberty vs. Old Dominion

Live Video: https://web.playsight.com/facility/liberty-university-tennis/home

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Tournament Website: https://bit.ly/3t2pKzD