The men’s tennis team finished the City 6 tournament Saturday with consecutive 4-1 losses to St. Joseph’s and Drexel.
The Owls were handled by St. Joe’s in most facets of the game, leading to frustration throughout the Owls’ roster. Quite a few unforced errors from the Owls sparked the run from St. Joe’s that put the Hawks in control of the match.
In singles, junior Santiago Canete defeated his opponent in the second flight 6-1, 6-0 with strong play in all parts of his game. He won many of the deciding points in the match, which is vital to success.
“I knew my opponent,” Canete said. “I got him in the beginning and then he got nervous, so it was hard for him to comeback in the match … I won many of the deciding points, which is key to winning.”
In the other singles matches, St. Joe’s controlled early and often to put the Owls away winning 6-1, 6-2 in the first flight, 6-4, 6-0 in the third flight and 7-5, 6-0 in the fourth flight.
“I think we are still missing the competitiveness,” Canete said. “When you are down three sets to zero for example, you can’t let yourself go and give away the match, you have to fight.”
In doubles, the duo of Ian Glessing and Vineet Naran fell short of winning the match, falling 6-2, 6-3, giving the Owls their first loss of the season.
In the late-afternoon match against Drexel, the Owls felt closer to victory, but the Dragons prevailed by winning the match, 4-1. This match was closer than the end result suggests, as two of the five matches went to a third and final set.
In singles, junior Nicolas Paulus was the only victorious Owl, winning his second flight match 6-2, 7-6 (3). In the other matches, the Dragons notched victories with scores of 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first flight, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the third flight and 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth flight.
In doubles, Naran and Glessing lost a one-set match,6-4. This 4-1 loss to Drexel gave the Owls a 2-8 combined record on the day, which left coach Steve Mauro in a frustrated state.
“We had a really good match against Villanova,” Mauro said. “We had to play one more match that St. Joe’s, which hurt us a little bit because it is not something as a team we are used to.”
The Owls (1-2) will have a five-day layoff from competition before hosting St. Francis College (N.Y.) Thursday at the Legacy Tennis Center.
Dalton Balthaser can be reached at dalton.balthaser@temple.edu or on Twitter @DaltonBalthaser.
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