WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Playing for the second time in a week, William & Mary and Liberty went back-and-forth in an entertaining and exciting 4-3 match on Sunday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis. The Tribe (1-3) battled back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to pull even a three, but the Flames (6-4) won a 4-3 nailbiter thanks to a three-set win on line four.
 
The Tribe received singles wins from graduate student Lev Kazakov (No. 2), senior Finbar Taclott (No. 5) and junior Daniel Pellerito (No. 6) but could not top Liberty in the end.
 
How It Happened
- In doubles, graduate student Brenden Volk and sophomore George Davis avenged a setback on Monday to Josh Wilson and Goncalo Ferreira at the top spot. Trailing 2-1, the Tribe duo won five of the final six games to even their mark at 2-2 and give W&M an early advantage.
- Liberty answered with a pair of narrow 7-5 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 to clinch the doubles point.
- After a Liberty victory at No. 3 extended the Flames lead to 2-0, graduate student Lev Kazakov put W&M on the board with a straight-sets win on line two. He topped Liberty's Josh Wilson, 6-4, 7-5, for his first win with the Tribe.
- Liberty pushed the lead to 3-1 with a victory at the top spot and the balance of the match came down to a trio of three-set contests at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6.
- At No. 5, senior Finbar Talcott took the opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6, before Liberty's Goncalo Ferreira answered with a 7-5 win the second. In the decisive third, Talcott won the final three games on the way to a 7-5 win to improve to 3-1 on the year.
- Junior Daniel Pellerito split the opening two sets with Christiaan Worst at the No. 6 spot. Pellerito won the first set, 7-5, while Worst took the second, 6-2. Pellerito raced out to a 5-1 lead in the third and held on for a 6-4 victory. It was his first win of the season and tied the match at three.
- The deciding match came at the No. 4 spot. After Liberty's Deji Thomas-Smith took the opening set, 7-5, junior Joseph Brailovsky answered with a 6-1 win the second. Brailovsky led in the third, but Thomas-Smith won the final three games to clinch the match for the Flames, 7-5.
 
Up Next
The Tribe host Morgan State at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 2 p.m. Live stats and video of the matchup with the Bears will be available at TribeAthletics.com.
 
Liberty 4, William & Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 – Nicaise Muamba (Liberty) def. Brenden Volk (W&M) – 6-1, 7-6 (5)
No. 2 – Lev Kazakov (W&M) def. Josh Wilson (Liberty) – 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 – Raffael Marques Da Silva (Liberty) def. Sebastian Quiros (W&M) – 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 – Deji Thomas-Smith (Liberty) def. Joseph Brailovsky (W&M) – 7-5, 1-6, 7-5
No. 5 – Finbar Talcott (W&M) def. Goncalo Ferreira (Liberty) – 7-6, 5-7, 7-5
No. 6 – Daniel Pellerito (W&M) def. Christiaan Worst (Liberty) – 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Finishing Order: 3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 4*
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Davis/Volk (W&M) def. Wilson/Ferreira (Liberty) – 6-3
No. 2 – Worst/Thomas-Smith (Liberty) def. Kazakov/Brailovsky (W&M) – 7-5
No. 3 – da Silva/Muamba (Liberty) def. Talcott/Pellerito (W&M) – 7-5
Finishing Order: 1, 3, 2*