By: Adam Purvis ~Staff Writer~

Xavier’s tennis season has picked up since October. The men’s team had been scheduled to play in four tournaments so far but have only seen two due to the “Snowpocalypse” that hit just south of us. However, the women’s team has made it to all four of their tournaments.

The two tournaments that the men’s team attended were at No. 10 Ohio State, which they lost, and at home against Morehead State, which they won.

They postponed their tournament against Austin Peay and had to cancel against Middle Tennessee.

The 4-0 loss against Ohio State was a setback but junior Matt Bishop had confidence about his team.

“Ohio State really put things into perspective,” Bishop said. “The spring is going to be exciting because we are a younger team, but all of our guys look to work hard.”

Work hard they did, with their 5-2 win against Morehead State on Jan. 29. The doubles were a struggle on the Musketeers, but they overcame this with a strong performance in the singles competition with wins in five of the six matches.

The men’s team will head to Greenville, N.C. to take on East Carolina on Feb. 5.

The women’s team, also, started off the spring against No. 18 Ohio State in Columbus. The Musketeers suffered a defeat from Ohio State with sophomore Amina Ismail earning the only point of the tournament in her singles match against Gabriella De Santis.

The Musketeers turned it around in their next tournament against Liberty University at home, chalking up their first win of the season.

They won 6-1 while suffering only one defeat in each of the doubles matches and singles matches.

“We all played with passion today and I could feel the energy from all around,” senior captain Alex Brinker said. “I am very proud of my team and can’t wait to compete this season with these amazing girls!”

In their last tournament, the Musketeers took home their first victory against No. 55 Indiana University in program history with a close match at 4-3. Xavier took the doubles point with victories from teams of Ismail, junior Sydney Liggins, sophomore Lauren Ghidotti and freshman Sophia Abelson.

Xavier managed to pull out the win with three wins from Brinker, Liggins and junior Christina Di Lorenzo after Liggins was able to win the tiebreak for the third set of her match.

The women’s team will continue play 6 p.m. Friday at home against Eastern Kentucky University.