VCU men’s tennis defeats Liberty, wins four straight singles matches

Andrew McGhan. Contributing Writer

Kyler Glliam, Contributing Writer

The International Tennis Association’s No. 39 VCU men’s tennis faced off against the No. 45 Liberty University Flames on Friday, April 5, where the Rams defeated the Flames 4-1.

VCU head coach Anthony Rossi said his message to the team was to go out and win Friday’s game to continue building upon the team’s growing confidence as they head into their upcoming conference games.

“To just get after it and just win it to try to get some momentum before the conference,” Rossi said.

VCU fourth-year tennis player Matisse Bobichon and third-year tennis player Gray Voelzke faced off against Liberty first-year tennis players Romeo Hadzimehmedovic and Matija Samardzic, according to StatBroadcast. Hadzimehmedovic and Samardzic won the set 6-2 in the first doubles match to conclude.

The Flames clinched the doubles point in the second doubles match to conclude, which saw Liberty fourth-year tennis player Rafael Marques Da Silva and redshirt fourth-year tennis player Thando Longwe-Smit defeat VCU second-year tennis player Romain Gales and first-year tennis player Hamza El Amine 6-3, according to StatBroadcast.

The third match was called off due to Liberty clinching the doubles point. The match between VCU third-year tennis players Oscar Pinto Sansano and German Samofalov versus Liberty fourth-year tennis player Deji Thomas-Smith and second-year tennis player Luis Felipe Miguel was tied 4-4 before being concluded early.

The Flames were up 1-0 in the overall score before entering the singles matches.

Losing the doubles point has been a constant theme in recent matches, Rossi said.

“That has been the story a little bit the last few matches,” Rossi said. “I think we just need to get back at it, get back to work and that’s it.” 

Kicking off the singles matches, VCU’s Gales defeated Liberty’s Longwe-Smit in the first match to conclude by winning the first set 6-4 and winning the second set 6-3 to claim the Rams’ first point of the match, according to StatBroadcast.

VCU’s Bobichon faced off against Liberty’s Miguel in the second match to conclude. Bobichon defeated Miguel in the first set 6-1 and 7-6 in the second set. 

This victory gave VCU its second singles point of the match, giving the Rams the lead with the overall score being 2-1.

VCU third-year tennis player Mathis Bondaz defeated Liberty’s Marques Da Silva by winning the first set 6-3 and winning the second set 6-4, according to StatBroadcast. Bondaz’s win added to the Rams’ overall score making it 3-1.

Coming into the game Bondaz was notified that he would only play his single match, according to Bondaz.

“I knew just before the game that I will only play single,” Bondaz said. “I knew it will be important to win my point, my single point, so I just tried my best to focus one point at a time and I did it well.” 

VCU’s Pinto Sansano secured the win for the Rams by defeating Liberty’s Thomas-Smith by winning the first set in a nail-biting finish of 7-5 and winning the second set 6-3, according to StatBroadcast.

The singles matches of VCU’s El Amine versus Liberty first-year Rodrigo Santiago Arraez and VCU’s Samofalov versus Robinson concluded early due to VCU reaching four points first. The final score of the game was a 4-1 Rams victory.

Winning four straight singles matches against a strong opponent like Liberty was a confidence booster for VCU, Bobichon said.

“I think our strong points is the singles definitely,” Bobichon said. “It’s a really good team, Liberty, they had a really good season so far.”

The Rams’ next match will be at home against the Florida Atlantic University Owls on Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m.