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Giancarlo Lemmi

Liberty men’s tennis players Chad Simpson, Louis Steyn, Giancarlo Lemmi, Siim Tuus and Ben Wirth were part of a strong field at the 2009 Wilson/ITA Atlantic Regional.

Tuus and Lemmi each won qualifying round matches in singles to move into the main regional draw. Tuus defeated Eddie Konrad of Navy in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5. In the main draw, the freshman won the first set of his match with the No. 13 seed Steven Rhoad from Virginia, 6-4, but dropped the next two sets, 4-6, 2-6.

Meanwhile, Lemmi won a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Longwood’s David Cardoso in qualifying to move into the main draw. There, he also took the first set of his match with James Madison’s Mike Smith, 7-6 (6), before falling in the next sets, 2-6,4-6.

Simpson also made the main singles draw, but fell in his first contest.

In doubles, Ben Wirth and Louis Steyn combined to become only one of three unseeded to teams to advance to the round of 16 . The Liberty pairing defeated the No. 9 seed duo of Ugar Atalay and Chris Kushma of George Washington, 8-5, to move to the round of 16 in the main bracket. Wirth and Steyn then fell to No. 7 seed, Banjamin Chomette and Tobias Fanselow of Old Dominion, 8-3.

The Liberty men’s tennis team concludes its fall schedule with the regional tournament. The Flames are scheduled to open their spring schedule, Feb. 6, in Fredericksburg, Va., at Mary Washington. Match time has not been announced.