The men’s tennis team fell to Charlotte 4-0 on Friday afternoon at the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in Mason, Ohio. The loss ends the season for the Owls.
The Owls end the season at 8-12 (5-4 A-10). The 49ers (14-9, 3-2 A-10) goes on to face George Washington Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We didn’t come out strong in doubles for some reason,” coach Steve Mauro said. “I thought after coming out so strong in doubles against Saint Louis, we would step it up. I think that was an unfortunate start. I think the doubles point would have given us a lot of momentum going into the singles.”
In the top singles flight, sophomore Hernan Vasconez fell to sophomore Jack Williams 6-3, 6-1. Freshman Nicolas Paulus dropped a 6-2, 6-3 decision to sophomore Alex Calott in flight four. In the fifth flight, freshman Hicham Belkssir lost 6-1, 6-2 to sophomore Paul Cisti.
Three singles matches were not finished. Sophomore Kristian Marquart was losing 6-4, 1-1 to freshman Jordi Massalle Ferrer in the second flight. In the third flight, freshman Santiago Canete was down 6-2, 4-4 to sophomore Kamil Khalil. Freshman Sam Rundle was the only Temple player to win a set, topping senior Krzysztof Kwasniewicz 6-2 in the first set before losing the second set 6-1.
Belkssir and Vasconez fell to Williams and Ferrer 8-0 in the top doubles flight. In flight three, Paulus and Canete lost 8-2 to Khalil and Kwasniewicz. The second flight match was ended early, with Marquart and Rundle leading Calott and Cisti 7-4.
“Considering the circumstances with losing [senior Kacper Rams], we started out slow,” Mauro said. “As our guys matured and had more playing experience, I think we got better and better. Overall, even though we lost today, it was nice to beat Saint Louis, and it was good to see good things come from such a young team.”
Temple’s 2013-14 schedule has not yet been released.
Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.
Be the first to comment