Liberty Named No. 3 Seed for Upcoming Big South Women's Tennis Championship

2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship Bracket

The Liberty women's tennis team was tabbed the No. 3 seed for the upcoming 2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship.

The Lady Flames (11-11, 7-1 Big South) earned a share of the Big South regular season title for a second straight year. Winthrop (16-5, 7-1 Big South) and Charleston Southern (15-2, 7-1 Big South) also finished 7-1 in league play.

Liberty is the No. 3 seed for the upcoming 2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship.

Winthrop was awarded the No. 1 seed by virtue of the third step of the conference's tiebreaker. The first two steps of the tiebreaker system (conference won-loss record and head-to-head competition) did not create an advantage because all three teams went 1-1 against each other. The third step, aggregate match record versus teams tied for first place, snapped the tie. Winthrop was a combined 8-6 against CSU and Liberty, compared to 7-7 for Charleston Southern (No. 2 seed) seed and 6-8 for Liberty (No. 3 seed).

The No. 3 seed Lady Flames will square off with the No. 6 seed Campbell Camels (8-12, 3-5 Big South) on Friday at noon. In its regular season meeting with Campbell, this past Tuesday, Liberty defeated Campbell, 4-3, in Buies Creek, N.C.

The 2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship will be held next Thursday through Sunday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C. The tournament commences on Thursday, April 20 with a single first round match and wraps up on Sunday, April 23 with championship contest at noon. The Big South tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship.

Gardner-Webb was pegged the No. 4 seed, as the Runnin' Bulldogs finished 5-3 in conference play. UNC Asheville posted an even 4-4 mark in Big South play to get the No. 5 seed.

Presbyterian (2-6) landed the No. 7, followed by No. 8 seed Longwood (1-7 Big South) and No. 9 seed Radford (0-8). Longwood and Radford will meet in a play-in match on Thursday at 9 a.m., with the winner to face No. 1 seed Winthrop in the quarterfinals.

Should the Liberty Lady Flames defeat Campbell on Saturday afternoon, they will move on to face the winner of No. 2 Charleston Southern and No. 7 Presbyterian on Saturday, April 22 at 9 a.m. in the semifinals. The championship match will be contested on Sunday, April 23 at noon.

2017 Big South Women's Tennis Championship
Thursday, April 20 – First Round
Match 1:  No. 8 Longwood vs. No. 9 Radford, 9 a.m.
Friday, April 21 – Quarterfinals
Match 2:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 8/9 winner, 9 a.m.
Match 3:  No. 2 Charleston Southern vs. No. 7 Presbyterian College, 9 a.m.
Match 4:  No. 4 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 5 UNC Asheville, 12 p.m.
Match 5:  No. 3 Liberty vs. No. 6 Campbell, 12 p.m.
Saturday, April 22 – Semifinals
Match 6:  Match 2 winner vs. Match 4 winner, 9 a.m.
Match 7:  Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner, 9 a.m.
Sunday, April 23 – Championship
Match 8:  Match 6 winner vs. Match 7 winner, 12 p.m.