Category Archives: Tennis

Doubles compete in ITA’s Day 2

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Two doubles teams were in action today for the Owls at the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championship Friday.

Senior Kacper Rams and sophomore Kristian Marquart won their first round match, defeating Old Dominion’s freshman Zvonimir Podvinski and junior Dante Terenzio 8-6. Coach Steve Mauro said Rams was hampered by an arm injury during the match. The injury should not prevent him from playing, Mauro said.

Sophomore Hernan Vasconez and freshman Hicham Belkssir lost their first round match 8-6 to the James Madison team of seniors Hugo Ramadier and Florent Sentenac. Vasconez normally plays with freshman Nicolas Paulus, but Paulus is nursing an injured neck, so Belkssir stepped in.

Marquart was the only Owl to play a singles match today. He fell to Ramadier 7-5, 6-4. Mauro gave Ramadier credit and said that he was very happy with Marquart’s fall season.

Saturday, Rams will play his first singles match of the tournament. He will face off against Longwood sophomore Daniel Elston in the second round of the main draw. Rams had a bye in the first round.

Rams and Marquart will battle the Virginia Tech team of sophomore Hunter Koontz and senior Trpimir Kujundzic in the second round of the doubles draw.

Mauro said that there will likely be consolation singles matches set up for Vasconez, Marquart, and Belkssir. Those matchups have not been determined.

-Evan Cross

Men’s tennis begins play in fall season finale

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The men’s tennis team began its final tournament of the fall Thursday, going 1-3 in singles matches in the qualifying draw.

Freshman Hicham Belkssir was the only Owl who won a match, defeating Morgan State senior Richard King 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championship.

He lost in the second round to St. Joseph’s University freshman Andres Urrea 6-3, 6-1. Coach Steve Mauro said Belkssir was tired in the second match, as there was only 90 minutes of time between the two matches.

Freshman Nicolas Paulus sustained a neck injury in his first round match, and eventually fell to Maryland-Baltimore County sophomore Kamal Patel 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Mauro said that Paulus was hurt in the third game of the first set, and was therefore in pain for the majority of the match. Mauro suspects that it will fully heal within a week.

Sophomore Hernan Vasconez was also defeated in his first round match. He lost 6-3, 7-6 to Norfolk State freshman Samuel Lemberger. Mauro said he was surprised that Vasconez lost, as he has been having a great fall season.

Singles matches in the main draw will begin tomorrow. Sophomore Kristian Marquart will play James Madison senior Hugo Ramadier. Mauro said Ramadier is a tough opponent and beating him would be a great win for Marquart. The winner of that match goes on to play the tournament’s top seed, Virginia senior Jarmere Jenkins, on Saturday.

Senior Kacper Rams is also in the main draw, but he has a bye in the first round and will not play singles until Saturday.

Doubles action also kicks off tomorrow. Rams and Marquart will play the Old Dominion team of freshman Zvonimir Podvinski and junior Dante Terenzio.

Vasconez and Paulus are scheduled to play James Madison’s Ramadier and senior Florent Sentenac. Paulus hopes to be able to play, but if he cannot, Belkssir will take his place.

-Evan Cross

Men’s tennis ready for city scrimmage

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The men’s tennis team will be playing downtown this weekend at the Drexel Invitational.

The Owls and the Dragons will be the only teams there. There were originally going to be more teams competing, but they all dropped out, so Temple and Drexel will scrimmage each other to prepare for next weekend’s ITA Regional Championship in Charlottesville, Va.

Coach Steve Mauro says that Drexel has improved from last year and will be a good warm up for the ITAs.

The two Philadelphia squads will begin on Friday morning with doubles play, with singles play directly following and extending into Saturday. Mauro said that he has not decided on the doubles pairings yet, but they will likely be different than the pairings at the Penn Invitational.

Those pairings were senior Kacper Rams and sophomore Kristian Marquart, sophomore Hernan Vasconez and freshman Nicolas Paulus, and freshman Hicham Belkssir and freshman Maros Januvka.

-Evan Cross

Tennis upgrades on both sides

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Temple’s men’s and women’s tennis teams are both looking to improve upon last season, but have different outlooks heading into this upcoming year.

The men’s team finished 9-10 overall last year, but 4-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Their season was capped off by a disappointing loss to George Washington in the A-10 tournament.

Coach Steve Mauro considers his men’s squad to be in a rebuilding stage. They are faced with a critical setback of losing four starters from last year, but are also welcoming some new athletes who they hope will contribute.

“It’s a different process,” Mauro said. “We’re in a rebuilding stage. We’re bringing in a bunch of good players, we just don’t know how they’ll do on the college level. We’re hoping for the best.”

Of those returning, sophomore Kristian Marquart is the only one to post a record over .500, finishing 9-7 in singles play. With three years left to improve, the 6 foot, 2 inch athlete provides a valuable young spark for the Owls.

The women’s team (14-11, 6-1 A-10) proves to be in a better position to make a championship run than the men’s team. They suffered a painful 4-3 loss in the A-10 title match last year to Massachusetts, but with six of eight players returning and a few new promising ones being added, they appear to be in an ideal position to make a title run.

“We expect to finish [No.] 1 or 2 in our conference,” Mauro said. “With those returning players and the addition of three solid players, we should be in the hunt for the A-10 title.”

Sophomore Maame Ama Osi stood out for the lady Owls last year, recording an impressive 19-9 record in singles play. This year, along with four juniors who Mauro hopes will step into leadership roles, she will attempt to lead her squad over the hump of the A-10 championship.

-Mark McHugh