LYNCHBURG, Va. – Amadeo Blasco played closer for the Longwood men's tennis team, taking a three-set win over Liberty's Eddie Gutierrez 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 at court No. 1, sealing the Lancers' first-ever Big South victory, 4-3.

With the upset victory over preseason number four Liberty, the Lancers have furthered their best start in the Division I era with five wins in just six matches played. Longwood's triumph over the Flames came on the same date that head coach Pierre Tafelski made his Big South home debut in 2015-16, that match also coming against Liberty.

"We played a very complete match from first to last point," said Tafelski, who has guided the Lancers to their first 1-0 start in conference play since joining the Big South prior to the 2012-13 season. "All credits to our players who came out with a great fighting spirit."

After taking a back-and-forth 7-5 first set at the No. 1 slot, Blasco dropped his second set 6-2, setting the stage for drama. With court No. 5 heading to a decisive third set, Blasco sealed the Lancers' first-ever Big South win over the Flames' Eddie Gutierrez by a 6-1 score.

Blasco is off to a 6-0 start with his singles win over Gutierrez, the best start to a season and career since Nobu Tanaka went 5-1 in his first six matches of the 2008-09 campaign. Tanaka lost his second match that season after starting 1-0, and finished the year 16-3. Thursday's win was also the first three-set match Blasco has played in his career after sweeping through his first five.

Longwood (5-1, 1-0) got things rolling with a 6-2 win at court No. 2 from Arthur Bardellotto and Julian Farthing before Blasco and Florian Uffer took the decisive No. 1 slot 6-3 to secure the doubles point and a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

"Our younger players showed good composure in important times, which isn't an easy thing to do in such a tight match," Tafelski said.

In singles play, it was Bardellotto and Farthing who provided the much-needed cushion to pull off the 4-3 upset. Farthing swept through Alex Poynter 6-3, 6-0 at court No. 4 and Bardellotto took straight 6-3 sets at line three, giving Longwood a 3-0 advantage just two matches into singles play.

Liberty was able to claw their way back into striking distance with sweeps at courts two and four, bringing it to a 3-2 match before Blasco came through to seal it.

Thursday's win was just the latest example of how far the team has come under the leadership of Tafelski. In his first season on campus in 2015-16, he guided the blue and white to seven wins and was awarded the Student Athlete Advisory Committee Coach of the Year honor. Just six matches into the 2016-17 campaign, he is close to passing that mark looking to turn the program into a consistent winner.

With the win, Longwood is tied for first place in the Big South standings with Presbyterian and UNC Asheville who were picked to finish second and fifth in the preseason poll, as voted on by coaches.

"We will take a lot of positive out of this match, learn from it and work on things that we need to fix before our next match," Tafelski said.

Longwood hits the road one final time on Sunday, March 5 to take on N.C. Central at 1 p.m. before their home opener against Campbell on March 10.

Longwood 4, Liberty 3
March 2, 2017 at Lynchburg, Va. (Cook Tennis Center)
 
Singles Competition
1. BLASCO, Amadeo (LWUM) def. GUTIERREZ, Eddie (LIBERTYM) 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
2. BURTON, Chase (LIBERTYM) def. UFFER, Florian (LWUM) 6-2, 6-4
3. BARDELLOTO, Arthur (LWUM) def. SALAS, Vince (LIBERTYM) 6-3, 6-3
4. FARTHING, Julian (LWUM) def. POYNTER, Alex (LIBERTYM) 6-3, 6-0
5. CASTANO, Diego (LIBERTYM) def. PETRALIA, Noah (LWUM) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
6. BORCUTI, Max (LIBERTYM) def. MANSER, Lachlan (LWUM) 6-4, 6-4
 
Doubles competition
1. BLASCO, Amadeo/UFFER, Florian (LWUM) def. POYNTER, Alex/CASTANO, Diego (LIBERTYM) 6-3
2. BARDELLOTO, Arthur/FARTHING, Julian (LWUM) def. GUTIERREZ, Eddie/SALAS, Vince (LIBERTYM) 6-2
3. BURTON, Chase/BORCUTI, Max (LIBERTYM) def. PETRALIA, Noah/MANSER, Lachlan (LWUM) 6-1
 
Match Notes
Longwood 5-1, 1-0 BSC
Liberty 4-5, 0-1 BSC
 
Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 4, 3, 2, 6, 1, 5
 
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