The opening doubles point for the Flames proved to be the deciding factor, Wednesday, as the 3-3 split in singles matches led to a 4-3 victory for Liberty over UMBC at the Retrievers' UMBC Tennis Complex.

Liberty's third straight win improves the team to 6-3, while UMBC levels its record at 4-4 with their third consecutive loss.

Liberty jumped out to a 1-0 lead after taking each of the three doubles matches.  Siim Tuus and Giancarlo Lemmi claimed the No. 1 match over Cristian Hodel and Joe Adewumi, 8-4, to remain unbeaten as a duo with a 3-0 record.

Tristan Stayt and Shea Thomas also improved to 3-0 as a tandem, knocking off Juan Manual Aranzazu and Daniel Gray in the No. 2 slot.  Freshman Wayne Harrell and Mandeep Yadav, who saw his first action of 2012, completed the sweep in the No. 3 contest, defeating Gaulthier Berret and Kamal Patal, 8-7 (7-4).

In singles, the Flames earned three straight-set victories to claim the team win.  UMBC took the final three matches in three sets to cut the Flames' win margin.

Tuus took over the team lead with his seventh singles win of 2012, knocking off Hodel, 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 1 position of head coach Chris Johnson's lineup.

UMBC's Adewumi tried to level his No. 2 match with Thomas, but Liberty's sophomore cleaned up the second set in a tiebreak for his fourth singles win of the season, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

In the No. 3 contest, Lemmi defeated Berret, 6-0, 7-5, for his sixth singles win of 2012.

The Flames took opening-set leads in the No. 4 and No. 5 matches.  However, the Retrievers battled back in both contests to claim wins in three sets.

While Harrell squared his match by winning the second set, UMBC's Patel claimed the third set to snap Harrell's five-match singles win streak.

The Flames return to action on Saturday, when the team takes on Coker.  The match is slated for a 10 a.m. start in Hartsville, S.C.

Liberty 4, UMBC 3
DOUBLES
1. Tuus/Lemmi (LU) def. Hodel/Adewumi (UMBC), 8-4
2. Stayt/Thomas (LU) def. Aranzazu/Gray (UMBC), 8-5
3. Harrell/Yadav (LU) def. Berret/Patel (UMBC), 8-7 (7-4)

SINGLES
1. Tuus (LU) def. Hodel (UMBC), 6-2, 6-4
2. Thomas (LU) def. Adewumi (UMBC), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
3. Lemmi (LU) def. Berret (UMBC), 6-0, 7-5
4. Aranzazu (UMBC) def. Stayt (LU), 0-6, 6-4, 11-9
5. Gray (UMBC) def. Segur (LU), 4-6, 7-5, 10-5
6. Patel (UMBC) def. Harrell (LU), 6-4, 4-6, 10-5