Men’s tennis wins, 6-1, women’s tennis losses, 7-0 – Villanovan

The men’s and women’s tennis teams survived the second weekend of competition with contrasting results.

While the men’s team beat Rider 6-1, the women fell 7-0 to Delaware.

In their tough loss against the Blue Hens, the women were swept in both singles and doubles. However, there were a few notable successes on a disappointing day for the Wildcats.

In doubles, the third Duo of junior Bella Steffen and senior Amanda Rivera-González had a tight and even game. They lost to the Delaware duo 6-4.

Rivera-González proved to be a bright spot in the singles matches and also had the closest game. He lost two sets 6-4 and 6-3 to the Wildcats for sixth.

“Third doubles was a bright spot and very competitive,” head coach Steve Reiniger said. “Amanda Rivera-González played a competitive match.”

The women’s team was without one of its top players, freshman Maggie Gehrig, which may have contributed to the poor finish.

Gehrig won’t be back until later this spring, so the Wildcats will have to find success elsewhere.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats are still looking forward to what’s to come.

“I’m hoping that when we get to spring break, when we have Creighton and Butler, we’ll be at our best,” Reiniger said.

The ladies will face Howard in their next match on Saturday, February 18.

The men’s team had a successful weekend with a 6-1 win over Rider and showed much improvement after last weekend’s 6-1 loss to Penn State.

There was plenty of excitement in this performance as the Wildcats took two wins in doubles and won all but one singles match.

In doubles, sophomore Trey Fourticq and freshman Tighe Brunetti swept their opponents, and junior captain Josh Robinson, along with senior Justin Suarez, won 6-4 to earn the first team point of the day.

There were strong performances throughout the singles, with one of the most impressive coming from Robinson, who was the No. 1 singles player.

Robinson won both sets easily 6-2 and 6-1.

Brunet also had another huge performance, winning 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. With these wins, Brunetti continued to prove why he has been one of the best players on the court this year for Villanova.

“He’s playing like a beast right now,” head coach Brad Adams said. “He doesn’t let anyone influence him. He completely dominates the field.”

The Villanova victory was secured by Fourticq in the third place, winning 6-1 and 6-3. The Wildcats also had some extra support last Friday as Junior Eitan Khromchenko returned from a year-long injury to win 7-5, 6-1 to earn a point for the team.

“It was nice to get the win,” Adams said. “Rider is a really good team. Everyone was prepared because Rider has improved a lot.

The men will take the court again on Feb. 24 against Coppin State.