Women’s Tennis Cruises Past St. Francis Brooklyn

The Owls playing in their home away from home were in a hurry handing St. Francis Brooklyn a ruthless 7-0 defeat on Saturday at UPenn. It was the Owls first win of the season, following a disappointing opening-day loss to VCU two weeks ago.   ​

Although the Owls were testing out some new doubles pairs, they were the far more experienced team from the onset.  Temple could not have asked for a better start against the Terriers, as they did not lose a single game in any of their three doubles matches. That equaled winning 18-straight games in about 30 minutes of play. Though Coach Steve Mauro, in true head coaching form, was not letting the lopsided victory deter his vision, “The doubles still needs work,” he said.  

The Owls picked up right where they left off in singles with Czech freshman Veronika Kulhava dominating Russian Ekaterina Bremel 6-0, 6-1.  Senior Jamie Wie eased past Spain's Angelica Karlsson 6-1, 6-1, while her sister, Evie, did one better by not dropping a single game.  India’s Vineetha Mummadi, Japan’s Sena Takebe, and China’s Yinig Tian were all victorious as well.   

Over the six singles matches, the Owls dropped six games in total, a rare feat.  The contest was all wrapped up in under 90 minutes, which impressed Coach Mauro, “We have been working a lot on consistency and that paid off today.”  

With this ­­win, the Owls moved to 2-0 all-time against the Terriers, with their last win coming in 2014. 

The Owls will have some time off before returning to action on Saturday, February 19 to take on city rival Villanova. The match is set for 7 p.m. and will be played back at the Hecht Tennis Center on the campus of UPenn.