It was a historic win for the Temple men’s tennis team on Saturday. For the first time in over 20 years, Temple defeated Navy, winning 4-3. The win was Temple’s ninth in their last 11 matches and the men now are just one win from .500 at 9-10 overall after an 0-8 start.
“I’ve always been confident in the team, so I knew they could step it up and they really performed well in singles,” coach Steve Mauro said.
The strong singles play was needed for Temple, who started the match slow, falling behind 3-1. But singles wins from Filip Stipcic, Nicolas Paulus, and Kristian Marquart propelled the Owls to the comeback victory.
“There are so many good teams out there in college tennis and if you get a win against any opponent it’s good, because the talent level is so high, but we’re just real happy with the way the season’s going right now,” Mauro said .
The women’s team is looking for a similar hot streak to serve as a spark with the American Athletic Conference tournament nearing. The team defeated Providence 6-1 on Sunday to win their third match in the last four.
However, Mauro said he saw some things he wants his team to work on.
“I wasn’t happy the way they played doubles,” Mauro said. “In order for us to do well in the conference we’re going to really step up our doubles game.”
However, Mauro does believe his team can build on a win like Sunday’s moving into the final matches of the regular season and into the conference tournament.
“I think it’s a good win for us,” Mauro added. “Hopefully we can put together a string of wins that will give us some more confidence.”
The men’s team is next in action on Saturday against Bucknell while the women host Fordham on Wednesday.
Greg Frank can be reached at greg.frank@temple.edu or on Twitter @g_frank6.
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