Weekend of disappointment

The women’s tennis team was busy over the weekend, hosting Xavier on Saturday, followed by Farleigh Dickinson on Sunday.

While the team entered playing well, coming off 7-0 victories against Drexel and St. Francis, it was a different story against Xavier and Farleigh Dickinson. The women opened the weekend with a 5-2 loss to Xavier on Saturday. Coach Steve Mauro said the doubles teams need some work.

“We’ve been playing better and working on it in practice but it’s something we still need to keep working,” Mauro said. “We’re going to switch up some combinations.”

However, despite the loss, Mauro said he was pleased with the play of freshmen Anais Nussaume.  Nussaume recorded a victory in singles for one of the Owls two points in the match.  Nussame went 5-2 in singles in the fall and has carried her strong singles play with her into the spring.

“She played against a strong opponent,” Mauro said.  She wasn’t feeling the greatest but she pulled it out.”

Another freshmen who impressed Mauro was Dina Karina, who recorded the other point for the Owls in the Xavier match. Mauro said her improved play figures to be rewarded.

“We’ll probably move her up in the lineup because she’s been playing better tennis.” Mauro said.

The Owls, as a team, played better tennis in Sunday’s match against Fairleigh Dickinson, but found themselves on the short end of the stick yet again.  Temple lost 4-3 and fell below .500 as their record now sits at 2-3.

Mauro was pleased with the immediate improvement in doubles.   He felt his doubles teams were working hard and earned the doubles point as a result.

“We definitely played better,” Mauro said.  Doubles was probably the best we’ve played all season.”

To be on the wrong end of the close score hurt for Temple, but the improved team play after the loss to Xavier has Mauro believing they’re going in the right direction.

“There were a ton of close matches and it was one we didn’t pull out but we’ll do better,” Mauro said.

After a busy weekend, the team will get a day off on Monday before returning to practice on Tuesday.  The next match for Temple is on Friday against Stony Brook.

Greg Frank can be reached at greg.frank@temple.edu and on Twitter @g_frank6.