The women’s tennis team disappointed in its opening event, as the Owls fell 6-1 to Princeton yesterday. While 69th-ranked Princeton seemed to be too much for the Owls, the outcome was more one-sided than Temple imagined it would have been going in.
Coach Steve Mauro said that the Owls were all aware before the match that Princeton would be tough, but acknowledged everyone felt they had a chance.
“I think even though they were a ranked team we could have won and I think the girls know that,” Mauro said.
Mauro said that he thought part of the reason for underachieving in the opener was nerves and that he believes the team is more talented than what he saw against Princeton.
“It was our first match of the year,” Mauro said. “We just need to be a little more consistent. We have a couple new players who player in their first match and were a little nervous.”
Two of these new players were freshmen Dina Karina and Anais Nussaume. Karina lost a three-set match to Katherine Flanigan of Princeton but competed all the way to the end falling 13-11 in the third and final set. Nussaume was perhaps the lone bright spot for Temple in the season opener winning her singles match in straight sets to earn the Owls their only point of the match, and also winning in doubles with Yana Mavrina to avoid a doubles sweep.
“She’s a great girl and we expect a lot out of her this year,” Mauro said of Nussaume. Mauro also spoke highly of Karina, who missed the fall season due to injury. “Though she did not play in the fall, she is very talented. I expect her to get a lot of wins for us as well,” Mauro added.
Despite the result, Mauro’s remains optimistic about the near future.
“I think we’ll have a different outcome in our next match,” Mauro said.
Be the first to comment