The men’s tennis team defeated Morgan State 6-1 on Easter afternoon in Elkins Park.
The Owls (4-9, 2-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) have now won two straight matches. The Bears (4-15, 3-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) lost their third match in a row.
“Overall I think we played pretty well,” coach Steve Mauro said. “I think we’re starting to gel together as a team.”
In singles play, sophomore Hernan Vasconez lost in flight one to sophomore Duk Young-Park 7-6(6), 7-5. In the second flight, sophomore Kristian Marquart won 6-1, 7-5 against freshman Evan Ward.
Freshman Santiago Canete defeated senior Eric Ward 6-3, 6-4 in the third flight. It was Canete’s second match at the third flight, and his first win there.
“He won pretty easily,” Mauro said of Canete. “He was playing really well in practice this week, so that’s the reason he played where he did.”
Freshman Nicolas Paulus triumphed 6-3. 6-1 in flight four against junior Dmitriy Borodkin. Paulus is now 8-5 this spring, the best mark on the team.
“We’ve been working with him on getting up to the net,” Mauro said of Paulus.
In the fifth flight, freshman Hicham Belkssir beat junior Jannick Tash 6-3, 6-1. Freshman Sam Rundle defeated senior Duwane Thomas 8-4 in the sixth flight.
In the top doubles flight, freshman Maros Januvka and Vasconez lost 8-3 to Eric Ward and Young-Park. Marquart and Rundle defeated Tash and Evan Ward 8-5 in the second flight. In flight three, Paulus and Canete beat Borodkin and Thomas 8-6.
“Even without [senior] Kacper Rams, the team is really coming together,” Mauro said. “Of course, it’ll be challenging, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t win each of our remaining matches.”
Temple is next in action at La Salle on Thursday, April 4 at 3:30 p.m.
Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.
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