FARMVILLE, Va. – Perennial Big South power Liberty showcased its championship pedigree Tuesday afternoon, taking down Longwood 7-0 in a conference showdown of old rivals at the Lancer Courts.

The win was the second in-a-row for the Flames as they also snapped what was a potential three-match win streak for the Lancers, who were riding back-to-back nonconference road wins at Maryland-Eastern Shore and future Big South foe Hampton.

Tuesday's loss also snapped the Lancers' chance at two consecutive wins on their newly surfaced Lancer Courts, located in the heart of the Longwood University campus.

Liberty (12-8, 5-1) gained the early momentum taking the doubles point with wins at all three courts, headlined by a 6-1 victory at the top of the rotation by Evangeline Crist/Anna Dollar over Longwood's Marija Venta/Kaori Terunuma.

The tandems of Maria Medina/Lara Soares and Rebekah Anderson/Grace Hashiguchi gave the Flames a doubles sweep as they got past the Lancer pairs of Jamie Breunig/Yulia Almiron 7-5 and 6-0 over Tanja Skalda/Julia Candiotto.

In singles play, Soares kept the momentum in favor of the Flames with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Longwood's Breunig, giving Liberty a 2-0 lead before Crist extended the margin to 3-0 behind her 6-3, 6-0 win over the Lancers' Skalda – who was coming off a dramatic match-clinching victory at Hampton Saturday.

Taking the match-clinching point for the Flames was Dollar, who used a 6-1, 6-3 straight-set win at court No. 4, taking down Terunuma.

From there, juniors Medina, Dollar and Ashley Bongart closed the afternoon with straight-set wins at courts two, six and one. A transfer from SEC power Tennessee, Flames' ace Bongart took down Longwood's Almiron 6-2, 6-1 to make it a 5-0 Liberty lead before Medina's 7-5, 6-1 win at court No. two over Venta.

Dollar closed the day on a 6-1, 6-3 score taking down Longwood's Candiotto bringing the final margin to 7-0.

Longwood will look to bounce back with a key Big South matchup against Gardner-Webb Saturday afternoon from Lancer Courts as part of a men's and women's doubleheader. First serve between the Lancers and Runnin' Bulldogs is set for 1 p.m.

Liberty 7, Longwood 0
April 3, 2018

Singles:
1. Bongart (Liberty) def. Almiron (LWU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Medina (Liberty) def. Venta (LWU) 7-5, 6-1
3. Soares (Liberty) def. Breunig (LWU) 6-0, 6-1
4. Anderson (Liberty) def.  Terunuma (LWU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Crist (Liberty) def. Skalda (LWU) 6-3, 6-0
6. Dollar (Liberty) def. Candiotto (LWU) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles:
1. Crist/Dollar (Liberty) def. Venta/Terunma (LWU) 6-1
2. Medina/Soares (Liberty) def. Breunig/Almiron (LWU) 7-5
3. Anderson/Hashiguchi (Liberty) def. Skalda/Candiotto (LWU) 6-0

Match Notes:
Liberty 12-8 (5-1 Big South)
Longwood 7-8 (0-7 Big South)

Order of Finish:
Doubles (3, 1, 2); Singles (3, 5, 4, 1, 2, 6)

#GoWood