Liberty to Face Longwood, Gardner-Webb and Hampton, This Week in Women's Tennis
4/2/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Liberty women's tennis will face Big South foes Longwood and Gardner-Webb and a future Big South opponent, Hampton, this week.
The Lady Flames (11-8) enter the week in second place in the Big South with a 4-1 mark. They will travel to Farmville, Va., on Tuesday for a 2 p.m. match at Longwood (7-7, 0-6 Big South) at the Lancer Courts.
On Friday, Liberty will welcome the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (3-11, 0-5 Big South) to town for Senior Day. The Liberty women's tennis program will take time to honor its one senior, captain Evangeline Crist, prior to the 2 p.m. match at the Cook Tennis Center.
Sunday's action will feature a home matchup for the Lady Flames against the Hampton Lady Pirates (3-5, 2-0 MEAC), who will join the Big South as a full member, starting in the 2018-19 academic year.
Series History
The Lady Flames are 12-4 all-time against the Longwood Lancers, including a 7-0 drubbing a season ago (Feb. 1, 2017) to open their conference schedule. Liberty has won seven in a row over Longwood, dating back to the 2011 season.
Liberty has also enjoyed success against Gardner-Webb to the tune of an 11-4 record and five straight wins in the all-time series. The Lady Flames bested the Runnin' Bulldogs, 5-2, on March 31, 2017, in Boiling Springs, N.C.
Liberty and Hampton will be squaring off for the second time ever. The two programs met on March 17, 2012, a 7-0 win for the Lady Flames in Lynchburg.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
Live scoring will be available for all three matches. Find the links on the women's tennis schedule page on LibertyFlames.com.
For social media updates before, during and after each match, follow @LibertyWTennis on Twitter and "libertywtennis" on Instagram.
Lady Flames News and Notes
- Senior captain Evangeline Crist is tied for the Liberty women's tennis program record for doubles wins. With two more doubles wins last weekend and 16 on the season, she is currently tied for the program record of 90 doubles wins with Valerie Thong (2013-16). Crist's recent hot streak featuring eight straight singles wins has put her on the brink of history in singles as well. She now has 85 career singles wins, just two behind the program record of 87 wins, set by Jordan Jenkins (2008-11).
- Junior Lara Soares is third in the Big South in overall spring singles winning percentage (.812, 13-3 record), while Crist is sixth (.722, 13-5 record). Soares is a league-best 8-1 at No. 3 singles.
- Junior Rebekah Anderson and freshman Grace Hashiguchi are second in the conference in doubles winning percentage (.833, 10-2 record). The duo has won four straight matches and is 9-2 in the No. 3 position in the lineup.
- Liberty is 73-37 (.664) in singles during the spring and 38-14 (.731 in doubles). In singles, Ashley Bongart is 7-2 in the No. 1 slot, while Polina Miroshnichenko is 6-2 in the No. 5 position.
- Nine of Liberty's 11 wins this spring have come by a 6-1 or 7-0 count, including six 7-0 victories.
Scouting Longwood
The Lancers are on a two-match winning streak (Hampton, last Friday and Maryland Eastern Shore, last Saturday) but are still in search of their first Big South win of 2018. Head coach Maria Lopez's squad, on the singles side, is led by Tanja Skalda with a 9-3 spring record, including a 6-1 mark in the No. 5 slot. Kaori Terunuma is 7-6 in spring singles, with a 6-5 mark at No. 4 singles. In doubles, the duo of Jamie Breunig and Marija Venta are 3-4 in the No. 1 slot.
Scouting Gardner-Webb
Head coach Jim Corn's squad is paced by sophomore Miljana Ristic (10-4 spring, 7-2 No. 4 singles) and sophomore Daniela Naupari (8-6, 5-0 No. 4 singles) in the middle of the singles lineup. In doubles, Naupari and her partner, Paula Romero, boast the best winning percentage (.385, 5-8 record) on the squad.
Scouting Hampton
The Lady Pirates are off to a 2-0 start in the MEAC, featuring victories over Howard (4-0 on March 24) and Morgan State (4-2, last Saturday). Head coach Clayton Hamilton's team features two seniors, two juniors, two sophomore and two freshmen.
