On Saturday, the Wildcat men’s and women’s tennis teams closed out their regular seasons against the University of Connecticut Huskies, failing to make the Big East Tournament in a somewhat disappointing season for both squads.

UConn’s men’s tennis team came to Villanova in search of a win and they found just what they were looking for in a victory over the ‘Cats. The loss dropped the ‘Cats’ record to two games below .500 for the season at an 8-10 mark.

The Huskies played a solid match all around, winning all three of the doubles matches and five of out six of the singles matches.

The lone bright spot for the ‘Cats came from freshman Ricardo Baraldi. Baraldi was able to pull off a close win in straight sets. Though Baraldi won, the Huskies’ Mike Louis made it a close match, but Baraldi was able to hold on for the victory 7-5, 7-6. Though the ‘Cats only won one match, they were able to stay close in some of the matches.

Junior Ryan Devine lost the first set 6-3, but battled back to take the second set 6-4 until finally falling in a close third set, 7-6. This was the ‘Cats’ last match of the season, as they did not qualify for the Big East tournament because of their 0-5 record in the Big East.

Though they struggled this season, they should have a quality team next season as they are returning most of the team from this year.

The women’s tennis team also played UConn on Saturday and just like the men, they ended up on the wrong side of the score.

The loss dropped the ‘Cats to an even .500 on the season, with a record of 8-8. The Huskies claimed all the double matches, in scores of 8-4, 8-2 and 8-5, while winning five of six singles matches.

However, the ‘Cats were able to come away with a victory, as sophomore Kelly McAndrew was able to win. McAndrew won the first set, 6-4 and was leading the second set 1-0, when the Huskies Jen LoRusso had to retire from the match due to an injury.

Though the ‘Cats lost five of the matches, most of them were very close.

Senior Ashley Young was able to win the first set of her match 6-2, but lost the second set 6-3 and made the third set very close, before falling to Trinell Russel, 7-5. The loss dropped the ‘Cats to 1-5 in the Big East, while the Huskies improved to 6-1. The ‘Cats’ only Big East win of the year came against St. Johns back in March.

With the closing of the season, the ‘Cats will lose almost half of their team, but do not fear tennis fans, as the ‘Cats have a solid core of young stars on the horizon that will mostly likely help this team.