Liberty Men’s Tennis vs JMU and Longwood

Building off its previous weekend win against Radford and George Mason, the Liberty University men’s tennis team took on the James Madison Dukes and Longwood Lancers in a riveting single-day meet Jan. 27. The Flames beat the Dukes 6-1 in an early afternoon match up closely followed by a Lancers defeat of 7-0. The Flames now claim four straight wins this season, bringing their record to 4-1. However, even with the confident victory against both teams, the players still fought through challenges.

Meeting James Madison first, both teams lined up in a doubles match up. Taking the first victory of the day on court two, senior Rafael Marques Da Silva paired with redshirt senior Thando Longwe-Smit and dominated against the Dukes in a clean 6-0 win. However, freshman Romeo Hadzimehmedovic and senior Deji Thomas-Smith faced a challenging set, struggling to overcome the Dukes in a 6-2 loss.  

 Coming down to freshman Matija Samardzic and sophomore Luis Felipe Miguel, the final doubles match up, the duo faced multiple adversities where the Dukes put the Flames in tough situations that boiled down to a determining tiebreaker. With the strong lead in the tiebreaker, Samardzic and Miguel concluded the doubles match with a 7-6 (7-2) win, gaining the team the first point of the day.  

“I think we knew we weren’t feeling the ball super,” Thomas-Smith said. “It was a bit of a tough one.”  

Later, the duo would find an opportunity to respond to the early defeat.      

With all six home courts filled with varying players, the Flames were hungry for the win with Longwe-Smit being the first to secure victory. His strong serve and determination on the court showed strength against the JMU Duke, commanding the match to 6-0, 6-1. With the first victory underway, the Flames leading, court four housed the second win in singles with Marques Da Silva leaving the court with a 6-0, 6-2 score. Over the following matches, Thomas-Smith conceded against JMU, giving them their first and only win of the day. The final single match was forced down to a tiebreaker. 

“I had to battle through adversity in the first match,” redshirt freshman Chase Robinson said. “I did not play my best and missed some opportunities.” 

However, Robinson won the match 7-6 (9-7).

“It was good to get some confidence from that win,” Robinson said after the match. 

The Flames took the first win of the day with Longwood still to play that night.  

Heading back out on the court at 5:30 p.m., the Flames looked at ease coming off the win from the early afternoon. With not much recovery time between sets, the Flames met the Lancers in a doubles round. This being the Lancers debut game for their spring season, Liberty quickly took them over in a defeat of doubles. Hadzimehmedovic and Thomas-Smith secured their first win of the day together, ending 6-1.

“It was good to get my first win with Romeo under our belt,” Thomas-Smith said. “We went out with a clear mindset; we knew what we wanted to do, and we executed.”  

Shortly after, Miguel and Samardzic ended the doubles matchups 6-3, gaining Liberty another doubles team win.

Finishing off the day, the team gained a rather quick win against the Lancers as Longwe-Smit earned the team the first singles point of the night with a 6-3, 6-1 win. Hadzimehmedovic, coming back onto the court a little shaky after a foot issue, continued to battle against the Lancer. With this being his second singles debut, he took the victory with a singles point for Liberty.  

Later, Robinson battled out on court six, securing another win.

“I played a lot more freely,” Robinson said. “(I) did a lot better in the second match.”  

Giving credit to the previous win, Robinson felt he was able to step out on the court against Longwood with more confidence. The rest of the evening, the Flames were able to completely sweep the Lancers with wins secured from Samardzic, Miguel, and freshman Rodrigo Santiago Arraez. Satisfied with the dual victories, the Flames concluded in prayer on the court.  

“It’s difficult that we didn’t have much time between matches to recover,” Assistant Coach Kyle Seelig said after the match. “It’s not easy when you have the intensity of a dual match to then follow it up two hours later and do it again.”  

Overall, the Flames ended the weekend with two quality wins. Next weekend, the team will take a trip to New Jersey to face Princeton on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m.  

Jolly is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion