Women's Tennis Opens Up BIG EAST Tournament Play Against Marquette in Quarterfinals

Friday, April 23

Cayce, S.C.

9 AM

Xavier University

Marquette

Women's Tennis Opens Up BIG EAST Tournament Play Against Marquette in Quarterfinals

04.22.21 | Women's Tennis

Championship Central Live Stats

Musketeers earned the No. 1 seed and first round bye

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier women's tennis (14-3, 3-0 BIG EAST) earned a first round bye and open BIG EAST Championship play the No. 8 seed Marquette in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 23, set to begin at 9:00 a.m.

The Musketeers, who enter the tournament on a five-match win streak, earned the No. 1 seed for the 2021 BIG EAST Championship, taking place in Cayce, S.C. from Thursday, April 22 through Sunday, April 25 at the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center

BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

Marquette, the No. 8 seed, is 6-7 after picking up the 4-0 win against No. 9 Georgetown in the opening round of the BIG EAST Championship.
Xavier is 7-3 in matches against the Golden Eagles dating back to 2014 when the Musketeers joined the BIG EAST.
The Musketeers last played Marquette in the regular season finale last weekend, taking the 5-2 win.
In the 2019 BIG EAST Championships, Marquette fell, 4-3, to Villanova in the first round.
Last season's BIG EAST Championship was canceled due to COVID-19. In 2019, Xavier defeated Georgetown and St. John's in the first two rounds of the BIG EAST Tournament. The Musketeers advanced to the championship round, falling to DePaul narrowly, 3-4.
Xavier women's tennis won the 2016 BIG EAST Championship, earning the program's first berth to the NCAA Tournament. Xavier's trip to the 2019 Championship marked the fourth time the Musketeers played in the final match since joining the BIG EAST.

THE BRACKET

THE SEEDS

Xavier
DePaul
Villanova
St. John's
UConn
Creighton
Butler
Marquette
Georgetown
Seton Hall
Providence

Seeds were determined by the conference's tennis championship and coaches' seeding advisory committees that review each team's regular-season schedule, ITA rankings, results against BIG EAST and common non-conference opponents and wins/losses against ranked foes.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Sophomore Anna Roggenburk was named the BIG EAST Tennis Athlete of the Week on the women's side, the conference office announced on Wednesday.
Roggenburk went 2-0 in the No. 1 spot over the weekend in a 5-2 win over Marquette. Roggenburk combined with Kaitlin Ruether to take the 6-3 win on the No. 1 doubles court to secure the doubles point.
In singles action, Roggenburk battled through tiebreakers in the third set on the No. 1 court to pick up the final point, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (3), to set the final score at 5-2.
Roggenburk moved to 13-3 on the season in singles play with a five-match win streak, and she's now 10-4 overall in doubles, with 3-0 mark against BIG EAST opponents.
Roggenburk is the third Musketeer to earn Athlete of the Week, joining Kat Lyman and Ahmeir Kyle. This is the second weekly award of Roggenburk's career, also earning the honor as a freshman (2/25/2020)

LAST WEEKEND

Xavier women's tennis moved to 14-3 on and 3-0 against BIG EAST opponents after closing out the regular season with a 5-2 win over Marquette.
Xavier went ahead 1-0 after taking the doubles point with a 6-1 win on the No. 3 court for Lucy Octave and Blessing Nwaozuzu, and a 6-3 win on the No.1 court for Kaitlin Ruether and Anna Roggenburk. Imani Graham and Emily Thomas were leading 5-3 on the No. 2 court when the point was decided.
Xavier jumped out to a 3-0 lead with the first two singles decisions. Imani Graham took a 6-0, 6-2 win on the No. 2 court, her 13th singles win of her freshman season. Kaitlin Ruether picked up a win on her senior day, playing No. 3 singles, taking a 6-1, 6-4 win.
Lucy Octave sealed the win for the Musketeers with a 6-4, 7-5 win on the No. 5 court, putting Xavier ahead 4-0.
Marquette picked up the next two points, taking the No. 4 court, 7-5, 6-2, against Emily Thomas and the No. 6 court in a three-set decision against Blessing Nwaozuzu, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Anna Roggenburk battled through tiebreakers in the third set on the No. 1 court to pick up the final point, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (3), to set the final score at 5-2.

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.