By Gavin Guffey, Campus Editor

Xavier Women’s Tennis was recently crowned 2026 Big East Champions – an achievement the team is no stranger to. 

In fact, this victory marks the team’s sixth consecutive Big East title. Additionally, it gives the team an automatic bid into the 2026 NCAA Championship. 

The Musketeer’s conference record of 4-0 in the regular season earned them the number one seed in the Big East Championship bracket, complete with a first-round bye. 

The tournament began on Friday, April 17 with the quarterfinals, where the Musketeers defeated Seton Hall University Pirates by a score of 4-0. The doubles team of senior Abby Nugent and sophomore Clara Owen won by a score of 6-2 before the other team of freshman Ella DeFord and sophomore Madeleine Rexroat won 6-3. Singles victories came from Owen, Nugent and DeFord at five, one and four singles, respectively. 

In the semifinals, the Musketeers played the University of Connecticut Huskies, which was a much tighter endeavor, score-wise. The Musketeers first earned the doubles point when senior Emily Flowers and sophomore Natalie Smitek won 6-1, and Nugent and Owen continued their hot streaks, winning 6-2. 

Unlike the Musketeers’ previous match, this one came down to the wire in singles. Nugent first won in singles 6-2, 6-3 before Rexroat was defeated 6-4, 7-5. Next, Owen won 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, and DeFord was defeated 7-6, 0-6, 6-4. senior Abigail Siminski was then defeated at no. 6 singles, by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. With the match tied at 3-3, Flowers pulled out a comeback win at no. 3 singles, winning 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, to give the Musketeers a 4-3 win. 

This win landed the Musketeers a spot in the Sunday, April 19  Big East Championship match against Depaul University Blue Demons. Once again, Xavier claimed the doubles point, with DeFord and Rexroat winning 6-1 before Nugent and Owen won 6-3. 

This time around, the Musketeers did not need as much time as before to claim victory. DeFord picked up a decisive 6-0, 6-3 victory at no. 4 singles before Owen dropped a 7-5, 6-2 defeat at no. 5 singles. To finish it off, Rexroat won 6-4, 7-5 at no. 2 singles and Nugent won 6-4, 7-5 at no. 1 singles. The other two singles matches went unfinished, and the Musketeers were crowned 2026 Big East Champions, with a 4-1 win in the finals. 

Though the Big East Championships keep stacking for the Muskies, it is also a focus of the team to not get complacent. 

“Our number one goal going into each season is to win the Big East Tournament. Whether it’s happened one or seven times, it doesn’t matter. That’s always our main goal,” Head Xavier women’s tennis Coach Doug Matthews said. “And, I think to achieve that, our goal is to play our best tennis at the end of the season, and we’ve been fortunate to be able to do that again this year.” 

To add to the accomplishment of clinching the championship match, no. 1 singles player Nugent was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament for her combined 6-0 weekend in both doubles and singles performances, no doubt a crucial component of the team’s success. 

The team’s record on the season has now improved to 16-8. However, it has not been sunshine and rainbows for the Muskies all season. 

“At the beginning of the season our schedule was difficult, so at one point we were 7-8, and since then, we’ve won nine matches in a row to be at 16-8 right now,” Matthews said. 

Heading into the NCAA Championship, the vision remains the same for the team, even at heightened stakes. 

“I think we try to treat every match the same. We don’t try to build a new match up, whether it’s a non-conference regular season match or the Big East championship,” Matthews said. “So we’ll treat the NCAA tournament the same, just trying to focus on ourselves and be the best version of ourselves we can be and see if it’s enough on that day.” 

The Musketeers will be facing the Vanderbilt University Commodores in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Championship hosted by The University of Georgia Bulldogs on Friday, May 1.