By: Andrew Utz ~Staff Writer~

The women’s tennis team completed four matches in the past two weeks, opening its season with a 2-2 record.

The Musketeers began the season with a 7-0 sweep over Morehead State at the Eastern Hills Indoor Tennis Club.

The indoor facility is the home court of the tennis team during the winter season.

Senior captain Lizzie Oosterbaan won both in her singles competition and with teammate Amina Ismail in doubles. Senior Daniella Patton and freshman Lauren Ghidotti also won in their doubles match with a 6-1 victory.

Both women made their marks in their own singles matches. The final pairing for the Musketeers, sophomores Sydney Liggins and Alex Brinker, did not finish its match, but both won in its singles games.

On the road at Eastern Kentucky University, the women’s team managed a 4-3 victory over the Colonels. The Musketeers and Eastern Kentucky split the singles matches evenly with three victories each. Ismail secured her match with scores of 6-4 and 7-5.

Ghidotti and Patton defeated their singles opponents as well, displaying the strength of the underclassmen on the team. In the doubles matches, Xavier went undefeated against the Colonels, making their record 2-0.

Over the weekend, the Muskies competed in two matches against ranked opponents. The first was against No. 52 Indiana, which resulted in a 6-1 loss. Liggins was the only Musketeer to add points to the Xavier side, while the Hoosiers dominated in their other matches. Xavier’s record fell to 2-1 while Indiana continued a 4-0 run in its season.

Following their Jan. 31 loss, the Muskies moved on to a match against No. 64 Louisville.

The Cardinals had only one loss before meeting the Musketeers and proved to be too much to handle.

The Musketeers managed to pull out two victories in the match, sweeping the doubles matches for a point and getting a point in one of the singles matches.
Sophomore Christina Di Lorenzo got the victory in a three-set match over the Cardinal’s Chloe Willetts.

Next the women take on Ball State on Feb. 6 at home. Xavier heads to Oxford to take on Miami University for the next match. Big East play begins on Valentine’s Day when the team heads to DePaul.

The Blue Devils are ranked 47th in the nation according to the ITA. No other Big East team is ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top 100 teams.
DePaul has a 3-2 record so far this season, but have two matches to play before taking on the Muskies.