The Liberty Flames men’s tennis team finished their 2026 season as runners-up in the Conference USA title match, following a 4-2 defeat to top-seeded Middle Tennessee on April 19. The match took place in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and marked the third consecutive year that Liberty ended its campaign as conference runners-up.
This result concludes a competitive season for Liberty, who entered the championship match as the No. 2 seed and ranked No. 64 nationally. The team’s strong doubles performance initially gave them an advantage over No. 48 Middle Tennessee before singles play shifted momentum.
In doubles action, Siwanat Auytayakul and Chase Robinson secured a key win at No. 3 doubles with a comeback victory against Karim Al-Amin and Birtan Duran (7-5). At No. 1 doubles, David Ekpenyong and Benjamin Sparks clinched a tight tiebreaker over Eric Crivei and Jonasz Dziopak (7-6(7)), while R Santiago Arraez and Guy Vorwerk fell at No. 2 doubles (6-4) to Ondrej Horak and Antoine Mayoral.
Middle Tennessee dominated singles play with Jonasz Dziopak defeating Carl Roothman (6-3, 6-1) at No. 4 singles and Birtan Duran overcoming Arraez in three sets at No. 3 singles (6-1, 1-6, 6-1). Robinson provided Liberty’s only singles win by beating Santiago Lora (7-5, 6-0) on court six.
Karim Al-Amin put Middle Tennessee ahead with a three-set victory over Sparks at No. 2 singles (6-1, 1-6, 6-2), while Horak delivered the decisive point by defeating Auytayakul on court one (7-5, 6-3). The remaining match between Ekpenyong and Crivei was left unfinished.
Liberty concludes its season with an overall record of .538 in singles matches (71 wins to 61 losses) and .627 in doubles matches. Notably, Sparks and Ekpenyong finished with a combined record of seven wins out of eleven matches at the top doubles spot this spring; Arraez and Vorwerk were the team’s most successful pair with thirteen wins from seventeen outings together.
