Liberty Concludes Road Trip with Loss at Furman, Sunday

The Liberty men's tennis squad concluded its five-match road trip with a 7-0 loss at Furman, Sunday at the Mickel Tennis Center.

Liberty drops back to .500 (4-4) with the setback, while Furman (7-3) runs its winning streak to four matches with the victory.

The Flames lost the doubles point to the Paladins to begin the afternoon. Furman's No. 3 unit of Trevor Croyder and Clarke Wilson took down Liberty's sophomore duo of Ryker Heller and Eddie Gutierrez, 6-0. The Paladins' Alex Steryous and Cameron Green teamed up to knock off the Flames' No. 2 squad of Vince Salas and Diego Castano, 6-1, securing the point for the home side.

Furman claimed straight-set victories at No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 singles to secure their seventh win of 2017. In the No. 5 spot, Munns bested Heller, 6-1, 6-2. Josh Pistorious won, 6-3, 6-0, over Max Borcuti to push the home lead to 3-0.

The Flames fell to 4-4 overall with a loss at Furman, Sunday in Greenville, S.C.

Alex Steryous provided the fourth point for the Paladins, besting Castano, 6-4, 6-2.

The remaining (No. 1-3 singles) matches were won by the Paladins. Furman's Adam Steryous collected a hard-fought 7-6, 6-4 win in the No. 1 match over Gutierrez.

Freshmen Chase Burton and Vince Salas lost tough three-set matches to their opponents. Burton fell to Green in a third-set tiebreaker, 7-5, 0-6, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 2 singles. In the No. 3 singles match, Salas was upended by Wilson in a tiebreaker as well, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4).

The Flames will have some time off from competition after five road matches in the last 12 days. Liberty will host Longwood on March 1 in its 2017 Big South Conference opener at 3 p.m. in Lynchburg.