Final Stats

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The top-seeded Coastal Carolina men's tennis team surrendered an early 3-0 lead as #5 Liberty attempted a late comeback in Friday's semifinal match of the Big South Championship, but held on for a 4-3 win as Vuk Velickovic fended off Egon Samaai in three sets on the second singles court. With the win, the Chanticleers (20-3) advance to the conference's championship match for the second time in the past four years.

Saturday's championship match will take place at 3 p.m. at the Cook Tennis Center on Liberty's campus. The #1 Chants will face the winner of Friday's 2 p.m. semifinal between #2 Presbyterian and #3 UNC Asheville.

For the second straight match the Chants quickly settled the doubles point.

Luiz Faria and Rick Timmerman struck first with a 6-1 win over David Bush and Diego Castano at No. 2. The point was finished on the top court, where Pedro Leme and Vuk Velickovic topped Sam Matheson and Egon Samaai by a 6-1 margin.

Coastal quickly expanded its lead to 3-0 as Timmerman (No. 5) and Faria (No. 6) finished off their respective singles matches in straights sets. Timmerman downed Bush 6-0, 6-3, while Faria notched a 6-1, 6-2 win over Alex Poynter.

#94 Sam Matheson, the 2016 Big South Player of the Year, started the Flames comeback on the first court by defeating Jabor Al-Mutawa, 7-5, 6-2.

Eddie Gutierrez cut the Chants' lead to one with a three-set win over Leme at No. 3, and Castano followed with a three-set win of his own against Sebastian Schneider at No. 4 to even the match.

Velickovic lost the opening set against Samaai by a narrow 6-7 margin to begin the No. 2 singles match, but responded with a 6-3 victory in the second. Velickovic led for the majority of the third set, and held off a late push from Samaai to close out the match 6-4.

Coastal -- which has won the Big South tournament five times in program history -- is making its eighth appearance in the championship match.

Coastal Carolina 4, Liberty 3
Singles competition
1. #94 MATHESON, Sam (LIBERTY) def. Al-Mutawa, Jabor (COASTALM) 7-5, 6-2
2. Velickovic, Vuk (COASTALM) def. SAMAAI, Egon (LIBERTY) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4
3. GUTIERREZ, Eddie (LIBERTY) def. Leme, Pedro (COASTALM) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
4. CASTANO, Diego (LIBERTY) def. Schneider, Sebastian (COASTALM) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
5. Timmerman, Rick (COASTALM) def. BUSH, David (LIBERTY) 6-0, 6-3
6. Faria, Luiz (COASTALM) def. POYNTER, Alex (LIBERTY) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. LEME, Pedro/VELICKOVIC, Vuk (COASTALM) def. MATHESON, Sam/SAMAAI, Egon (LIBERTY) 6-2
2. FARIA, Luiz/TIMMERMAN, Rick (COASTALM) def. BUSH, David/CASTANO, Diego (LIBERTY) 6-1
3. AL-MUTAWA, Jabor/SCHNEIDER, Sebastian (COASTALM) vs. GUTIERREZ, Eddie/POYNTER, Alex (LIBERTY) 3-4, unfinished

Match Notes:
Liberty 11-11, 4-4 BSC
Coastal Carolina 20-3, 8-0 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (5,6,1,3,4,2)
Big South Men's Tennis Championship semifinals