After a road trip to Texas earlier in March yielded two losses to Houston and Southern Methodist and then a road loss to Rutgers on Friday, the women’s tennis team entered its final conference match on Saturday against Connecticut without a win in American Athletic Conference play.
That changed though, as Temple pulled out a 4-3 victory against UConn.
Coach Steve Mauro said he was happy with the way his team responded after getting behind early, losing the doubles point.
“It was a good win,” Mauro said. “We started out slow in doubles which is something we need to get better in. It was great that we came back because when you lose the doubles point the momentum is defintley down.”
Mauro was particularly pleased with sophomore Minami Okajima played in the victory. Okajima pulled at a 7-6(4), 6-2 win in the No. 6 singles slot and Anais Nussaume won in the fifth singles flight.
“The girls stepped up in singles especially toward the bottom of the lineup,” Mauro said. “I’m really happy with the way Minami has been playing.”
While it was the first conference win for Temple, Mauro said his team looks forward to playing matches in The American and looks forward to the conference tournament later this monthin Tampa, Fla.
“It’s great playing conference matches,” Mauro said. “They’re what we really look forward to during the season. It’s great to get a little bit of a rivalry during the season now that we’re in a new conference.”
Greg Frank can be reached at Greg.Frank@Temple.edu or on Twitter @g_frank6.
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