Culver, Marks Win in Singles, Doubles in 5-2 Loss to Liberty
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Seniors Arsenio Culver and Ben Marks won in both singles and doubles play, their 10th win of the season in 12 matches together, for the Norfolk State men's tennis team during a 5-2 loss to Liberty Wednesday afternoon at the Esbenshade Tennis Courts.
Culver won his eighth straight match in singles play as the Spartans fell to 10-11 overall on the season. The Flames improved to 13-5 with their third straight win.
The duo faced a stiff challenge in their doubles match against Siim Tuus and Giancarlo Lemmi at the No. 1 spot, needing a 7-4 win in the tiebreaker to take the match, 8-7. The Flames, though, took care of business in the other two doubles matches for the first point of the match.
Tristan Stayt and Shea Thomas earned the win at the No. 2 position, 8-1, over senior Christian Romanzini and sophomore Kent Austin. Mandeep Yadav and Dillon Segur also won by an 8-1 score against freshmen Igor Braga and Shaheed Mourillon-Swift at the No. 3 spot.
In singles play, Culver again needed to go into a tiebreaker, taking the first set 7-6 after the 7-4 tiebreaker win against Tuus at the No. 1 spot. Culver did not come close to needing a tiebreaker in the second set in a 6-0 victory.
Marks came back strong against Thomas at the No. 2 spot after dropping the first set, 6-3. Marks pulled out a 6-1 win in the second set, and then closed the match with a 10-7 win in the third set tiebreaker.
Lemmi downed Braga at the No. 3 position, 6-2, 6-1, while Segur posted a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Romanzini at the No. 4 spot. In the other two matches, Yadav defeated freshman Daniel Grauel, 6-4, 6-0 at the fifth slot, while Jorge Azuero earned a 6-2, 6-1 win against Austin at the last spot in the lineup.
Liberty Earns 7-0 Win over Norfolk State
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Liberty won all five contested singles matches in straight sets and also dominated in doubles in a 7-0 victory over the Norfolk State women's tennis team Wednesday afternoon at the Hershey Tennis Courts.
The Flames improved to 9-10 overall on the season, while the Spartans saw their overall record drop to 7-10.
Liberty won both doubles matches by 8-1 scores, with Alexandra Sheeran and Rebekah Jenkins downing senior Naeemah Brooks and junior Rebecca Graff at the No. 1 spot. Sophomore Maryna Kariuk and freshman Laura Gutierrez also dropped their match at No. 2 doubles to Carol Lobel and Jessie Boda.
Because of NSU's five-player limit, the Flames also won the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles positions by default. At the No. 5 spot, freshman Kia Batiste fell to Annisha Domenech by a 6-4, 6-2 margin. One spot higher in the lineup, Kariuk dropped a match to Nicola Wellman, 6-1, 6-1.
At the top three spots in the lineup, Brooks lost to Sheeran at the No. 1 slot, 6-0, 6-1, while Jenkins downed Gutierrez at the second position, 6-3, 6-0. Lobel completed the sweep with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Graff at the third spot.
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