Highlanders Sweep Liberty; Men Win 5-2, Women, 4-3

Radford, Va. --Radford’s men’s and women’s tennis teams defeated Liberty this afternoon from Dedmon Center Courts. The men’s team won five of the six singles matches to earn a 5-2 victory, while the women used a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles to slide by the Lady Flames, 4-3.

The men have won four straight and improve to 10-6 overall, 3-3 in the Big South, while the women won their first Conference match, moving to 5-13 overall and 1-5 in the Big South. Liberty’s men fall to 8-10 overall 1-5 in the Conference, while the women fall to 2-11 overall, 0-7 in League play.

In the men’s match, the Flames opened with the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and 3, with Radford taking the No. 2 doubles match. In singles, Radford quickly earned the victory taking straight set victories at No. 1 by James Lloyd (Cobham, Surrey, England), No. 4 by Joakim Arhammar (Sollentuna, Sweden), No. 6 by Dominic Soeur (Herndon, Va.) and No. 5 Robel Mengisteab (Kista, Sweden). Arthur Vasarevic (Zagreb, Croatia) earned a hard fought straight-set win at No. 2. Priit Prihl picked up Liberty’s lone singles victory with a three-set victory.

On the women’ s side, the No. 2 doubles team of Camila Nolden (Florianopolis, Brazil) and Caroline Downs (Radford, Va.) won 7-4 in a tiebreaker helping the Highlanders earn the all important doubles point. Downs, along with Ashton Downs (Radford, Va.) and Jessica Nixon (Leesburg, Va.) posted straight set wins in singles to secure the victory for Radford. Nixon with doubles partner Cassandra Price (Deland, Fla.) earned an 8-2 at No. 3. Jonita Randolph, Andreea Cotuna and Mayra Prado won at No. 1, 2 and 5 singles for the Lady Flames.

Radford’s men’s team will head to High Point on Thursday, April 7 to face the Panthers at Noon. The women head to George Mason on Friday, April 8 for a 3 pm match.

Results:

Radford (M) 5, Liberty 2

SINGLES:

1. James Lloyd (RU) def. Luis Rino (LU) 6-1, 6-3

2. Arthur Vasarevic (RU) def. Braen Aneiros (LU) 6-4, 7-5

3. Priit Pihl (LU) def. Brandon Johnson (RU) 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4

4. Joakim Arhammar (RU) def. Kenan Bell (LU) 6-1, 6-1

5. Robel Mengisteab (RU) def. Luke Cachia (LU) 6-1, 7-5

6. Dominic Soeur (RU) def. Victor Rios (LU) 6-4, 6-0

Doubles:

1. Rino/Aneiros (LU) def. Lloyd/Vasarevic (RU) 8-6

2. Arhammar/Mengisteab (RU) def. Rios/Pihl (LU) 8-6

3. Bell/Cachia (LU) def. Johnson/Soeur (RU) 8-5

Radford (W) 4, Liberty 3

Singles

1. Jonita Randolp (LU) def. Camila Noldin (RU) 6-1, 6-1

2. Andreea Cotuna (LU) def. Daniela Milano (RU) 6-4, 6-0

3. Caroline Downs (RU) def. Martyna Hanusz (LU) 6-1, 6-1

4. Ashton Downs (RU) def. Sarah Henry (LU) 6-1, 6-0

5. Mayra Prado (LU) def. Cassandra Price (RU) 6-4, 6-1

6. Jessica Nixon (RU) def. Onastazia DeLuca (LU) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles

1. Randolph/Cotuna (LU) def. Milano/A. Downs (RU) 8-2

2. C. Downs/Noldin (RU) def. Hanusz/Prado (LU) 9-8 (4)

3. Price/Nixon (CSU) def. DeLuca/Henry (LU) 8-2