By: Chris Behler ~Staff Writer~

Xavier’s tennis program had a strong showing this past weekend in Philadelphia. Both the men’s and women’s teams beat the St. Joseph’s Hawks on Feb. 14 and the Temple Owls on Feb. 15.

The men gave the Hawks a shellacking, winning all six singles matches and taking the doubles point in two games.

After beating St. Joe’s 7-0, the Muskies went on to defeat Temple 6-1. They took the doubles point in two games, with seniors Mesa Mei and Jimmy Roebker leading the way with a win 6-2.

It almost looked like Xavier would completely shut out Temple as well, however, in match five redshirt freshman Matt Bishop fell 6-1, 6-1 to Temple’s Kristian Marquart.

The men went on to win 6-1 and complete a solid weekend away, improving their record to 5-5.

The Xavier women had an equally productive weekend as they took both Ws as well, and increased their record to 4-2. Just like the men, the women beat St. Joe’s in clean-sweep fashion, 7-0.

They dominated in doubles, winning 8-0, 8-3, discontinuing Brinker and Liggins’ match with XU leading 7-3.

Not one singles match went longer than two sets, as the women handled the Hawks with graceful efficiency.

The next day the women were matched up against a much more challenging Temple Owls team. Doubles went smoothly, with teams of DiLorenzo/Patton and Westling/Wolf taking down their opponents with precision and ease, 8-4, 8-2 respectively, not allowing for Brinker and Liggins to finish their match yet again.

The singles matches went a little differently than the previous day, however, with Xavier clinching the overall win for the day, and then losing the last two matches in three sets each.

After this 5-2 win for the women, they move on to play their first Big East matchup of the season against the Butler Bulldogs on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

Upcoming for the Xavier men’s team is its match against Ball State on Feb. 19. Both matches will be played at 1 p.m. at the Western Tennis and Fitness Club in Cincinnati.