Monday, 10/29/2012

The Liberty Flames men's tennis team returns to Charlottesville, Va. this weekend to compete in the ITA Atlantic Regional. The Flames also took part in the UVa Fall Classic in Charlottesville on Oct. 5-7.

The Flames will be one of 20 different schools represented at this weekend's event, which will be held at the Snyder Tennis Center.

Play begins today with the qualifying draw in singles play. The main singles and doubles draws begin on Friday morning.

Siim Tuus and Shea Thomas both earned seeds and each received first-round byes and automatically advance to the round of 64. This marks the first year the Flames have had two players seeded in the Regional Tournament. It is also the first year that Thomas has garnered a seed, thanks in part to his strong play during this fall season.

Liberty will send five players to compete in the main singles draw, while two doubles pairs will represent the Flames. This is the first year that the Liberty men's team has had five players placed directly into the main draw.

Jorge Azuero kicks the event off for the Flames on Friday morning with a contest against Alexander Drean of UMBC. Also competing in the opening round of singles play for Liberty will be Dillon Segur, who will face Tim Schweig of Old Dominion, and Egon Samaai, who will battle Penn State's Matt Barry.

In the main doubles draw, Tuus and Azuero face off against Aaron Gomez and Lucas Oliveira from Virginia Tech on Friday afternoon. Thomas and Samaai follow up Tuus and Azuero with a match with VCU's Francis Pare and Dylan McCloskey.