FORT MYERS, Fla. -  The 2022 season came to a close for the JSU men's tennis team with a 4-0 loss to No. 67 Liberty in the first round of the ASUN Conference Championship tournament, Friday.

"Tough way to go out today for our seniors. I really feel for them as they put so much into the program over the years," said Head Coach Mike Mucci. "We really needed the doubles point today and we let some chances slip away."

The squad battled with the Flames in doubles, holding early leads in the first and third flights. Liberty quickly defeated Daisuke Inagawa and Thomas Norwood, 6-3, on the No. 2 court to take an early lead in doubles.
 
On the No. 1 court, Vanja Dobrnjac and Jordi Blanchar led 3-2 early on but dropped the match, 6-3, giving the doubles point to the Flames. Alex Vishnevskiy and Joaquin Vallejo jumped out to a 4-1 lead on the No. 3 court and led 4-3 when the doubles point was clinched.

Entering singles play the Gamecocks needed to pick up four wins but were unable to do so. Liberty opened singles with a win in the fourth flight, defeating Dobnrjac 6-2, 6-1. JSU dropped all but one first set to begin the singles round. Blanchar opened with a 6-1 win in the fifth flight. Following Dobrnjac's loss, Inagawa fell 3-6, 1-6, in the sixth flight, putting the Flames up 3-0. Liberty's fourth point came with a win at the first flight, 6-4, 6-2 over Vallejo. Norwood, Vicente Arbelaez and Blanchar's matches went unfinished following Liberty's clinch.

With the loss, JSU finishes the season 8-10 overall. Blanchar led the Gamecocks with 10 wins on the season while Norwood and Arbelaez each finished with a team-leading .642-win percentage.

"Credit to liberty for closing out some tight first sets and winning quickly on the courts where they had momentum," added Mucci "We made progress as a program in many ways this year and we will learn from our first year in the ASUN so we are more prepared for these kinds of moments next season."

Senior's Thomas Norwood, Joaquin Vallejo, Aljaz  Kaplja and Alex Vishnevskiy leave the program after leading the Gamecocks to a combined 55 wins over the past five seasons. 

Stay up to date with JSU men's tennis at JSUGamecocksports.com and on social media @JSUGamecocksTN.  

Tennis Match Results
JSU  vs Liberty 4/22/2022 at Fort Myers, Fla. (FGCU Tennis Complex)
#67 Liberty 4, JSU 2 0

1. Josh Wilson (LIBERTYM) def. Joaquin Vallejo (JSUMT22) 6-4, 6-2
2. Nicaise Muamba (LIBERTYM) vs. Thomas Norwood (JSUMT22) 6-4, 1-2, unfinished
3. R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) vs. Vicente Arbelaez (JSUMT22) 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
4. Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) def. Vanja Dobrnjac (JSUMT22) 6-2, 6-1
5. Deji Thomas-Smith (LIBERTYM) vs. Jordi Blanchar (JSUMT22) 1-6, 5-6, unfinished
6. Thando Longwe-Smit (LIBERTYM) def. Daisuke Inagawa (JSUMT22) 6-3, 6-1

1. Nicaise Muamba/R. Marques Da Silva (LIBERTYM) def. Vanja Dobrnjac/Jordi Blanchar (JSUMT22) 6-3
2. Josh Wilson/Christiaan Worst (LIBERTYM) def. Thomas Norwood/Daisuke Inagawa (JSUMT22) 6-3
3. Thando Longwe-Smit/Omar El Kadi (LIBERTYM) vs. Joaquin Vallejo/Alex Vishnevskiy (JSUMT22) 3-5, unfinished

Match Notes:
JSU  8-10
Liberty 11-10; National ranking #67
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (4,6,1)
Official: Bob Booth  T-1:53