On Thursday, the men’s tennis team took a flight to Memphis, where it would open American Athletic Conference play.
On Friday, Memphis proved to be too much for the Owls (5-5, 0-1 The American) as they dominated in all facets to cruise to a 7-0 victory. The Tigers won all of the matches in straight sets.
Memphis, which has two singles players ranked in the Top 55 nationally, didn’t allow any set to extend more than four games.
“[Memphis] came out and played exceptionally well in doubles,” Mauro said. “They played really solid tennis and because they played consistently, it was hard for us to beat them.”
Mauro said Memphis had a strong serving game and because they were able to serve so well on their home courts, they were able to prevail in the match easily.
Mauro said that even though his team was swept, sophomores Vineet Naran and Filip Stipcic, along with junior Ian Glessing played close matches, but just fell short in their efforts.
“We competed in singles,” Mauro said. “The scores don’t show how close the matches actually were. [Memphis] won pretty much every one of the key points in the matches and that is what helped them win games.”
A struggle for Mauro’s team on the season has been consistency, something its coach said it needs to address as the season progresses.
“Our consistency wavers from time to time,” Mauro said. “Some matches we play consistent tennis and other matches we have a lot of unforced errors … we need to continue to work on that.”
Mauro said that it is important for his team to be ready for a quick turnaround when it plays Saturday against Murray State at 3 p.m.
Dalton Balthaser can be reached at dalton.balthaser@temple.edu or on Twitter @DaltonBalthaser.
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