Women's Tennis to Face Louisville, Memphis this Weekend

Friday, March 26

Louisville, Ky.

12 PM

Xavier University

Louisville

Women's Tennis to Face Louisville, Memphis this Weekend

03.25.21 | Women's Tennis

Xavier opens up the weekend at No. 45 Louisville before hosting the Tigers

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier women's tennis (9-1) will face off with a pair of teams this weekend, traveling to Louisville to face the No. 45 Cardinals on Friday, March 26 at noon, then hosting the Memphis Tigers on Saturday, March 27.

Saturday's match is set for 1:00 PM at the Jim and Mary Brockhoff Family Tennis Facility on Xavier's campus.

LOUISVILLE

Louisville is 6-9 on the season, winning 3-of-4 to open the season, over Ball State, Miami (Ohio) and Wichita State, then picking up three more wins in ACC play, over Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech. The Cards have lost five straight headed into the match with Xavier.
Louisville was 8-6 in 2020 when the season was canceled.
The Cards opened the season with six straight wins, picking up victories over North Alabama, Ball State, Southeast Missouri State and Lipscomb.
The two teams last faced off in 2016, a 4-3 loss for the Musketeers in Louisville.

MEMPHIS

Memphis is 4-11 on the season, picking up a win over No. 36 Missouri in February, and winning three of their last five, against Lipscomb, North Texas and Houston.
Memphis was 8-5 when the 2020 season was called off, winning four of its last five.
The Tigers fell in the second round of the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championships. UCF defeated Memphis, 4-0, in Orlando, Fla.
Memphis defeated Xavier in their last matchup, 4-2, on April 7, 2017. The two teams were scheduled to play in 2020 as well.

LAST WEEKEND

Xavier women's tennis moved to 9-1 on the season after sweeping the weekend against rivals Dayton and Cincinnati, making it six-straight wins.
Xavier opened the weekend with a 7-0 sweep of the Flyers on Friday evening.
Xavier went ahead 1-0 with the doubles point, with Imani Graham and Anna Roggenburk taking the first decision, 6-0, in the No. 3 spot. Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas fell 6-4 in the No. 1 spot, but then Kaitlin Ruether and Kat Lyman secured the point with a 7-5 win in the No. 2 spot.
Imani Graham picked up her eighth singles win of the season in No. 4 singles, 6-1, 6-1, to put Xavier ahead 2-0. Anna Roggenburk made it 3-0 Xavier with a win in the No. 3 spot, 6-2, 6-3, her seventh singles win of the season.
Blessing Nwaozuzu clinched the win for the Musketeers in the No. 6 spot, winning 6-3, 6-3 to put Xavier ahead 4-0. Kaitlin Ruether added a fifth point for Xavier with a 6-3, 6-1 win in the No. 5 spot.
Kat Lyman made it 6-0 in favor of Xavier after battling in the No. 2 spot, taking the first set 7-6 (5) before falling 6-1 in the second set. Lyman came back to take the third set 7-6 (3) to remain undefeated in singles for the season at 9-0.
Ahmeir Kyle completed the sweep with a three-set win, taking set one 6-2 before falling 6-3 in the second set to force a third set, battling back from trailing 5-6 to take the set and the point 7-6 (3).
Xavier battled to a 4-3 win at Cincinnati on Sunday.
In doubles action, Cincinnati secured the first double's decision, 6-1, in the No. 1 spot against Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas, but the Musketeers took the final two to secure the point. Kaitlin Ruether and Kat Lyman took the No. 2 spot, 6-3, and then Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham took a 6-4 win in the No. 3 spot to seal the point.
Xavier made it a 2-0 lead with a win for Emily Thomas in the No. 6 singles spot, 6-2, 6-0 and went ahead 3-0 with Kat Lyman's 10th singles win of the season, a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the No. 2 spot. Lyman is undefeated in singles action for the year.
Cincinnati chipped into the Xavier lead with a win in the No. 1 spot, 6-4, 6-4, over Ahmeir Kyle, but the Musketeers secured the win with a come-back win for Anna Roggenburk in the No. 3 spot, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to make it 4-1 in favor of the Musketeers. The win was Roggenburk's fifth straight singles victory and eighth for 2021.
UC took the final two decisions, a 7-6 (5-0), 4-6, 1-0 (6-0) win in No. 5 singles against Kaitlin Ruether, and a 6-7 (0-6), 6-2, 1-0 (7-0) win in No. 4 singles against Imani Graham.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Sophomore Kat Lyman was named BIG EAST Tennis Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced on Wednesday.
Lyman, who came in tied for No. 123 in this week's ITA National Rankings for individuals, went 4-0 overall in a weekend where the Musketeers collected wins over rivals Dayton and Cincinnati, making it six-straight match wins for Xavier. The Musketeers are 9-1 on the season.
Against Dayton, Lyman partnered with Kaitlin Ruether to take a 7-5 win in the No. 2 doubles spot to secure the point for the Musketeers after the No. 1 and 3 doubles were split. Lyman also picked up a win in the No. 2 singles spot, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (3) to pick up Xavier's sixth point in the Musketeers' 7-0 sweep of the Flyers.
Against Cincinnati, Lyman and Ruether picked up a 6-3 win in No. 2 doubles to make it 1-1 in doubles decisions, Xavier would eventually secure the point. Lyman also picked up another win in No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-0, to put Xavier ahead 3-0 in an eventual 4-3 win over the Bearcats.
The singles win against UC moved Lyman to 10-0 on the season in singles play. Lyman is 5-3 on the season overall in doubles action, including a 3-1 record partnered with Ruether.
It's the first Weekly Award for Lyman's Xavier career, and the first for the Musketeers this season. Xavier will be back in action this weekend, traveling to Louisville on Friday, then hosting Memphis on Saturday.

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.