University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
No. 7 Bulldogs to Face No. 2 Liberty in Big South Quarterfinals
04.18.2015 | Men's Tennis
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's tennis team opens up play in the 2015 Big South Championship on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. as the No. 7 seed, and will face No. 2 seed Liberty at the Asheville Racquet Club's south location.
Asheville (11-7) enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed following a 3-5 campaign in Big South league play. The Flames (13-9) earned the No. 2 seed with a 6-2 mark in the conference. Both schools missed out on an opportunity to climb in the final standings after Coastal Carolina and Radford were unable to play their final league match of the season due to rain, thus playing just seven conference matches as opposed to eight.
The Bulldogs handed Liberty one of its two regular-season losses back on March 27th by a final margin of 5-2. On that day, the Blue & White grabbed an early lead with 8-4 doubles victories at No. 1 and No. 3. Daniel Kripak, 11-6 on the year in dual matches, earned a three-set victory at the top flight, and got help from the bottom of the lineup where the Bulldogs were victorious on courts four-through-six.
Liberty head coach Chris Johnson, recently tabbed as the league's Coach of the Year, has the No. 2 singles flight champion and All-Conference member, Sam Matheson to bolster his singles lineup. Matheson went 14-7 overall with a 7-1 mark in conference play, including a 6-0, 6-0 triumph in the match against the Bulldogs.
Because of the rain expected in Asheville on Sunday, the match will be held indoors at the Asheville Racquet Club's south location. The first 50 Bulldogs fans will receive free ice cream from The Hop. Sunday's match will be the second of three matches in the quarterfinal round of the conference championship.
