Women's Tennis to Face ETSU and Louisville, This Weekend

The Liberty women's tennis team will play its second match of the spring on Saturday morning at home against East Tennessee State and then travel to Louisville for a match on Sunday afternoon.

The contest against ETSU is set for a 10 a.m. start at the Crosswhite Athletic Club in Lynchburg. The Bucs (2-1) own a 4-0 all-time advantage in the series, with the last win against the Lady Flames (1-0) coming in 2013.

The match at Louisville (4-0) is scheduled for a noon start at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

The Lady Flames will play their second match of the spring on Saturday morning at home against East Tennessee State and then travel to Louisville for a match on Sunday afternoon.

Season Opener Recap
The Lady Flames opened the spring season on Wednesday with a convincing 7-0 win over Big South opponent Longwood in Lynchburg.

Liberty did not drop a set in the match on the way to victory. The Lady Flames swept the three doubles matches and won in straight sets in all six singles contests.

Experienced Roster
Liberty's spring roster is comprised of one freshman (Eugenia Camacho), four sophomores (Rebekah Anderson, Audrey Brown, Anna Dollar and Aleksandra Panchenko), one junior (Evangeline Crist) and two seniors (Emily Groeneveld and Mariely Hassey).

Crist was a Big South First Team All-Conference singles and doubles player in 2016 as well as a VASID All-State Doubles first team selection. Dollar was a Big South Second Team All-Conference doubles and VaSID All-State Doubles second team selection.

2017 Big South Outlook
Liberty was selected to finish second in the Big South Conference women's tennis preseason poll.
The Lady Flames garnered one first-place vote and seven second-place votes for 72 points. Winthrop received seven of the nine possible first-place votes for 79 points and its 14th consecutive No. 1 preseason ranking.

Charleston Southern garnered the remaining first-place vote and eight third-place votes for 65 points. Campbell (53 points), Radford (37 points), UNC Asheville (37 points), Gardner-Webb (27 points), Presbyterian (24 points) and Longwood (11 points) rounded out the poll.

The 2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship will be played at Wake Forest, April 20-23, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Scouting ETSU
The Bucs enter Saturday's match with a 2-1 record. They have defeated Troy and Tusculum and lost to Virginia Tech. Last year, ETSU posted a 20-3 overall mark and 6-1 record in league play.

Their spring roster is comprised of three freshmen, a sophomore and four juniors. Junior Ioanna Markesini is ranked No. 95 in the ITA women's singles top-100 ranking that was released on Jan. 4.

The Bucs are coached by Ricardo Rojas, who is in his first year as head coach for the women's tennis team and his ninth season as an assistant coach for the men's team.

Scouting Louisville
The Cardinals are off to a hot start with a 4-0 record in 2017. They've collected home wins over UT Martin, Murray State, Detroit Mercy and Western Kentucky.

Louisville's roster is made up of two freshmen, two sophomores, four juniors and a pair of seniors. The Cardinals posted an 8-18 record in 2016.

Louisville is coached by Mark Beckham, who has been in charge of the program since 2007.