FARMVILLE, Va. – After taking the Big South by storm last season with four conference victories – two coming over powers Liberty and Winthrop – and a fourth-place finish, Longwood men's tennis was picked to finish fifth in the league in the 2018 season, as announced Wednesday by the conference office.
The fifth-place prediction is the highest the Lancers have been tabbed in the preseason poll since joining the Big South prior to the 2012-13 campaign. Longwood received two second-place votes and a third-place vote, both firsts for a program that's rapidly on the rise.
Led by first-year head coach
Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez, the Lancers are coming off a strong fall season in which returning ace and nationally-ranked
Amadeo Blasco (No. 122) picked up 13 wins to headline a lineup that collected five flight championships in three tournaments.
Blasco wasn't the only Lancer to see success in the fall as six others won at least six matches including
Jorge Godoy (7-4),
Arthur Bardellotto (6-1),
Julian Farthing (6-5),
Rosen Naydenov (6-4),
Valentin Popescu (6-4) and
Raisei Sakai (6-6).
Longwood hits the court in 17 days as a date with Bulefield State awaits on Jan. 27 at Virginia Tech before a two-day invitational tournament at Mary Washington followed by East Carolina the next weekend to begin the February slate.
2018 Men's Tennis Preseason Poll
- Presbyterian (3)
- Campbell (1)
- Winthrop (2)
- Gardner-Webb (1)
- Longwood
- Liberty (1)
- UNC Asheville
- Radford
() – first-place votes
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