FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's tennis team (10-8, 5-0 ASUN) will be back in action at the FGCU Tennis Complex for a conference match against Liberty (11-9, 5-0 ASUN) at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 11. The winner of the match will clinch at least a share of the ASUN Regular Season Championship title.

This will be the second all-time meeting between the two teams. The Eagles and the Flames faced off back in the 2015 season in a neutral-site match at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on the University of Miami campus, where FGCU garnered a 6-1 triumph.

"I had this match circled on the calendar before we even knew that we would both be undefeated in the conference at this point," head coach CJ Weber said. "Mainly that was because they are a new team to our conference and that's always fun. We're looking forward to another tough ASUN battle and a great Southwest Florida environment! I want to encourage all fans to get out to this one."

Last Time Out
•     The Green and Blue defeated Lipscomb 5-2 last weekend at the Bisons' Huston-Marsh-Griffith Tennis Center.
•     For the fifth match in a row, the Eagles sealed the doubles point. Juniors Feliksas Sakalauskas (Palanga, Lithuania/Virginia Tech) and Felipe Ramirez (Armenia, Colombia/Florida Virtual School) earned a 6-2 win at the third flight and were followed up by a 6-1 triumph on the second court via the duo of junior Marcelo Tebet (Londrina, Brazil/Colégio Anglo Americano) and sophomore Juan Montes (Pereira, Colombia).
•     The Eagles picked up four wins in singles play en route to the win. Sakalauskas won a straight-set match at the fifth court, senior Javier Fernandez (Ibiza, Spain/IES CTEIB) extended his winning streak to seven matches with a straight-set victory at the sixth flight, senior Felipe Escobar (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira/TCU) dug out a 6-0 win in the third set on court No. 3 and Tebet rounded out the scoring with a 7-5 win in set three on the fourth court.
•     The last time FGCU began conference play 5-0 was the 2015-16 season. That year, the Green and Blue finished the regular season undefeated. The Eagles are gunning for their fourth conference championship and first since 2017.

Scouting the Flames
•     Liberty is the only other ASUN men's tennis team currently undefeated in conference play. The Flames have picked up wins over Kennesaw State, North Alabama, Lipscomb, Stetson and UNF.
•     Like the Eagles did last Thursday, Liberty also shut out North Alabama 7-0 when the programs faced off back in March.
•     Sophomore Nicaise Muamba leads the team with 24 wins in singles play and has won four-straight matches. He owns a dual record of 14-5 and a 10-6 mark during the fall individual season.
•     He and junior Chase Burton have posted a 10-6 record at the first court in doubles play, the strongest of any Liberty duo this season.
•     Freshman Josh Wilson is the only player for Liberty who has a perfect 5-0 record in singles play.
•     Senior Eddie Gutierrez will be the only Flame graduating from the team this year.  
•     The Flames will close out their regular conference season with a match at NJIT this Saturday.

ASUN Conference Standings
1. FGCU (10-8, 5-0 ASUN) *
2. Liberty (11-9, 5-0 ASUN) *
3. Kennesaw State (10-10, 4-2 ASUN) *
4. UNF (10-10, 3-2 ASUN)
5. Lipscomb (7-11, 2-3 ASUN)
6. Stetson (9-11, 1-4 ASUN)
7. North Alabama (3-14, 1-4 ASUN)
8. NJIT (4-14, 0-6 ASUN)
* - Clinched a spot in ASUN Championship

Up Next
The Eagles will compete at the FGCU Tennis Complex for the final time this season with a match against Kennesaw State at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 13. The team will honor its four seniors - Ezequiel Cerrini, Felipe Escobar, Javier Fernandez and Mateo Ruiz - between doubles and singles play.

FGCU has already clinched a spot in the 2019 ASUN Men's Tennis Championship Thursday, April 18 – Saturday, April 20 at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center in DeLand. With an unblemished conference mark, the team is also in position to clinch a regular season championship title.

FOLLOW ALONG
For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis follow us on Twitter & Instagram @FGCU_MTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of the competition.

CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by CJ Weber, who has coached 29 ASUN All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his seventh year, Weber has compiled an 90-76 (.540) overall record and a 35-18 (.655) record in ASUN play. In 2014-15, Weber guided the Eagles to their first-ever ASUN Championship and first-ever ASUN Regular Season title after a program-best 17 wins. In his third season, Weber led Jordi Vives to a No. 35 national ranking, a nation-leading 14-match unbeaten streak and the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament - the program's first appearance. The Eagles completed consecutive perfect ASUN seasons in 2016 and back-to-back conference titles as well as a second-straight Coach of the Year honor for Weber. FGCU again won the ASUN Championship in 2017, advancing to its second NCAA appearance in program history.