It wasn’t an auspicious start to the spring season for the Temple men’s tennis team, as they lost their first eight matches of the season. Throughout the losing streak Coach Steve Mauro maintained belief that his team could turn it around and was competing hard despite losing lots of matches.
A win against Fordham last Sunday got things going in the right direction for the Owls and weekend victories over Hampton and Maryland Eastern Shore now have Temple on a three-game win streak. The Owls left little doubt in both matches as to who the superior team was winning 6-1 against Hampton yesterday and 5-0 against UMES today.
“Ever since the Fordham match I knew we were capable of producing some better results,” Mauro said. “The guys have been playing well, so it’s been a good couple weeks.”
Another plus for the Owls over the weekend was the return of both Hernan Vasconez and Santaigo Canete to the lineup. Vasconez had been away from the team while tending to a personal matter and Canete was recovering from having a wisdom tooth extracted.
Canete won convincingly 6-0 6-0 against Hampton in singles earning one of Temple’s six points yesterday. Paired with Vineet Naran, Vasconez secured a victory in doubles against Hampton helping Temple earn the doubles point en route to the 6-1 victory.
“It’s great having them back everyone has been contributing and we’re happy with the way guys have been responding,” Mauro said.
Temple will now prepare for two local opponents in the next seven days. The Owls will host Philadelphia University on Thursday and play a road match against University of Pennsylvania on Sunday.
“We lost a lot of tough matches early on but I think these matches have just given us confidence and getting these wins have given us a little more confidence going into Philly U,” Mauro said. “I was confident in their ability that they could win these matches and I’m confident in the next couple as well. We’re kind of building towards the UPenn match which is always a good rivalry for us.”
Greg Frank can be reached at greg.frank@temple.edu or on Twitter @g_frank6.
Be the first to comment