The women’s tennis season ended with a loss to Massachusetts.
While the women’s tennis team ended its season with a loss to top-seeded Massachusetts in the Atlantic Ten Conference tournament on Saturday, April 21, the future remains bright for the young squad.
With temperatures reaching up to 79 degrees, Temple lost in the semifinals to the Minutewomen, 4-3, in a match lasting more than four hours. UMass went onto lose to No. 3 Richmond in the championship round on Sunday, April 22.
After picking up a pair of wins against Dayton and Xavier in the first two rounds of the tournament, coach Steve Mauro said that fatigue was a main factor in the semifinal loss.
“We were a little tired going into the semi’s against a No. 1 seed, and came out flat,” Mauro said.
In the opening moments of the match, the Owls jumped out early with sophomore Yana Mavrina and junior Agnese Rozite winning the first doubles contest. But the win was Temple’s only doubles win for the day, as UMass swept the final two doubles matches, earning the point for doubles.
In singles, it came down to the final match.
After winning every other match, the Owls found themselves in a deadlock with the Minutewomen with the score tied at three.
Freshman Maame Ama Osei, who posted a 18-8 record throughout the regular season, faced off with UMass freshman Chanel Glasper. Osei won the first set only to drop the final two, handing the Owls (13-11, 6-2 A-10) their second loss for the season in league play.
“I think on any other day we could have beaten [UMass] pretty handily,” Mauro said. “But today after playing two matches on two consecutive days we were a little bit tired.”
Although the disappointing loss ends the season, Mauro said that there were many bright spots in the loss.
Mavrina, who had a breakout season going undefeated (6-0) in conference play, continued her dominance in the tournament with three match wins.
Sophomore Jordan Batey also earned three wins in the tournament, adding to her 19 wins on the season.
As Mauro looks forward into the offseason, a strong core of players will be returning next year. With Mavrina and Batey both emerging as leaders, the Owls have a positive outlook going into the offseason.
“We brought in a couple of young players, and hopefully they will have more confidence and know what it takes to play on this level,” Mauro said.
Colin Tansits can be reached at colin.tansits@temple.edu.
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