‘Nova battles through tough Big East action

John Whalon

The Villanova men’s tennis team has not had much luck lately. Since returning from their trip to Orlando, Fla., the team has won only two of seven matches, and in their last four matches, they have lost three.

The ‘Cats started off losing a tough match to Rutgers, 0-7. Freshmen Sumanth Chittajallu and Anuj Malhorta won the only match for ‘Nova at the third doubles spot. The Scarlet Knights won each singles match in straight sets.

After the rough loss to Rutgers, the Wildcats had three matches in four days starting on April 1. In their first match of the series, the ‘Cats faced Duquesne and fell to the Dukes. Villanova split the singles matches with Duquesne. The ‘Cats took the first two singles matches and also the sixth, but failed to capture the doubles point, taking only one of the three. After this close match, ‘Nova had another close loss, falling to the DePaul Blue Demons. Villanova was able to grab the doubles point in this match, but the team was unable to perform in the singles matches, only winning one of six and losing 5-2.

The men’s team record dropped to 7-9 on the season after the stretch.

After the two tough losses, the Wildcats needed to get something going. In their match on Tuesday against Philadelphia rivals, the Temple Owls, Villanova took four of the six singles matches and solidified their first victory in five matches, defeating the Owls, 4-3.

The women’s team over the past week has had better luck taking one of two matches. In the ‘Cats first of two matches, they faced Towson and squeezed out a victory. ‘Nova took the first three singles matches and the doubles point to defeat Towson, 4-3.

After the tight win, the team squared off against the St. John’s Redstorm and lost 1-6. Senior Candice Carlin won the ‘Cats only point of the day winning the first singles match in three sets. Carlin and Ashley Reed also won their doubles match, but the Redstorm won the other two.

After taking one of the two matches, the women’s season record went from 7-5 to 8-6 and fell to 1-2 in the Big East. The men’s next match is against St. John’s on Friday, while the women face West Virginia on Saturday.