Women's Tennis Set for a Pair of Matches this Weekend

Friday, March 19

Dayton, Ohio

6 PM

Xavier University

Dayton

Women's Tennis Set for a Pair of Matches this Weekend

03.17.21 | Women's Tennis

Xavier opens up the weekend at Dayton on Friday, plays at Cincinnati on Sunday

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier women's tennis plays a pair of road matches locally this weekend, traveling to Dayton to face the Flyers on Friday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m., and then traveling across town to face the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m.

DAYTON

The Flyers are 4-7 on the season, winning three of their last five, with victories ove Saint Francis, Bellarmine and Cedarville. UD also beat IUPUI.
Dayton was 0-12 when the 202 season was called off due to COVID-19.
Xavier defeated Dayton, 6-1, last season in Cincinnati.
The win over the Flyers made it 14-straight wins over the Flyers dating back to 2006.

CINCINNATI

Cincinnati is 2-5 on the season, picking up wins over Northern Illinois and Northern Kentucky.
Last season, Cincinnati was 7-6 when the season was canceled.
The two team's last matched up in 2019 when Xavier topped the Bearcats, 4-3, at Eastern Hills.
The Musketeers lead the recent series with the Bearcats, 8-7, dating back to 2005. Xavier has won four of the last six in the series.

LAST WEEKEND

Xavier women's tennis moved to 7-1 on the season after picking up a pair of wins in Nashville two weeks ago.
Xavier opened the weekend with a 5-2 win over Lipscomb on Feb. 26.
Against Lipscomb, Xavier opened up the match by taking the doubles point with a 6-2 win for Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas in the No. 1 spot, and a 6-1 win for Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham in the No. 3 spot. Kat Lyman and Kaitlin Ruether led 4-2 in the No. 2 spot when the point was decided.
Kat Lyman picked up the second point for the Musketeers, taking the No. 2 singles spot, 6-0, 6-2, to move to 7-0 on the season in singles action.
Ahmeir Kyle made it 3-0 in favor of Xavier with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court No. 1, her fifth singles win of the season.
Imani Graham clinched the match on court three, coming back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to move to 6-1 in singles during her freshman campaign.
Blessing Nwaozuzu scored the final point for the Musketeers, winning No. 6 singles 6-3, 6-1 to pick up her second singles win of her freshman season.
Lipscomb picked up the final two points of the match, winning No. 4 singles over Emily Thomas, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6), and No. 5 singles against Lucy Octave, 6-1, 3-6, 10-6, to set the final score at 5-2 in favor of the Musketeers.
The Musketeers also picked up a 5-2 win at Middle Tennessee on Feb. 27
Against MTSU, Xavier opened up the match by taking the doubles point, with Ahmeir Kyle and Kaitlin Ruether winning 6-1 in the No. 1 spot and Kat Lyman and Lucy Octave winning 6-3 in the No. 3 spot to secure the point. Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham fell, 6-3, in the No. 2 spot.
Xavier went ahead 2-0 with a win for Anna Roggenburk in the No. 3 spot, 6-3, 6-0. Roggenburk is 6-1 in singles for the season.
MTSU picked up the next point to make it 2-1 taking the No. 5 spot, 6-2, 6-2 over Kaitlin Ruether.
Ahmeir Kyle made it 3-1 in favor of the Musketeers with a win in the No. 1 spot, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6). Kyle is 6-1 in singles on the season.
Imani Graham sealed the win at 4-1 with a 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 win in the No. 4 spot to move to 7-1 on the season.
Blessing Nwaozuzu fell in the No. 6 spot, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) to set the score at 4-2.
Kat Lyman picked up the final point for the Musketeers, winning on court two, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 to remain undefeated in singles on the season, moving to 8-0.

THE TEAM: RETURNERS

Xavier returns five from the 2020 season, with all getting routine action in dual play.
Ahmeir Kyle played primarily in the No. 1 singles spot, finishing the shortened dual season with a 7-5 record. Kyle also had an 8-5 record in No. 1 doubles, partnered with both Emily Thomas and Kaitlin Ruether.
Anna Roggenburk was Xavier's No. 2 singles player for most of the season, finishing with four wins. She also collected another win playing in the No. 1 singles spot. She ended the season with a 9-5 record in doubles, going 8-5 in the No. 2 spot with 2020 graduate Rachael Reichenbach. She also went 1-0 in No. 3 doubles with Lauren Fitz-Randolph, also a 2020 grad.
Emily Thomas had a 3-4 record in singles play during dual action, going 2-0 in the No. 2 spot and 1-4 in the No. 3 spot. She also posted a 4-3 record in doubles plays during duals, playing with Ahmeir Kyle in the No. 1 spot.
Kaitlin Ruether was Xavier's primary No. 4 singles player in 2019, posting a 7-1 record in the spot, and a 9-5 record overall in dual singles. Ruether posted a 6-6 record in dual doubles, including a 4-2 record in No. 1 doubles with Ahmeir Kyle.
Natalie Moyer posted a 6-4 record in singles during dual play, going 4-4 in the No. 5 spot, but also posting 1-0 records in the No. 4 and No. 6 spots. Moyer collected three doubles wins during dual play, including a 1-0 record in the No. 2 spot with Kaitlin Ruether and wins with 2020 graduates Rachael Reichenbach and Lauren Fitz-Randolph in the No. 3 spot.

THE TEAM: NEWCOMERS

Xavier added a pair of freshmen to the roster, Imani Graham and Blessing Nwaozuzu.
Graham is from St. Johns, Florida (Creekside High School) and is currently ranked No. 53 in the country. The 5-star recruit had been ranked as high as No. 7 nationally according to tennisrecruiting.net. She was the 2019 FHSAA Individual State Champion and was named a member of the All-County Girls Tennis Team in 2019.
Nwaozuzu is 4-star recruit from Orange, Ohio (Orange High School). Coming out high school, she had a high ranking of No. 61 nationally according to tennisrecruiting.net. Nwaozuzu was a 2019 Midwest L2 Open Champion and was CVC Conference Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.
Xavier also added a pair of transfers in Kat Lyman and Lucy Octave.
Lyman, a transfer from West Virginia, was a four-star recruit with a national ranking as high as No. 26 (TennisRecruiting.net) during her prep career. As a freshman at WVU in 2020, Lyman collected 11 total wins in a shortened dual season. She has four years of eligibility remaining.
Octave joins Xavier as a graduate transfer from Utah State. In her four seasons as an Aggie, Octave recorded 91 wins in singles and doubles, the 10^th most in program history. Her 51 total singles win and 40 doubles wins both rank in the top 12 in Utah State's career records as well.