Women's Tennis Faces a Pair of BIG EAST Opponents

Friday, April 9

Cincinnati, Ohio

1 PM

Xavier University

DePaul

Women's Tennis Faces a Pair of BIG EAST Opponents

04.08.21 | Women's Tennis

Musketeers host DePaul on Friday, traveling to to Butler on Saturday

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier women's tennis (11-3) will travel face a pair of BIG EAST foes this weekend, hosting DePaul on Friday, April 9 at 1 PM and then traveling to Butler to face the Bulldogs on Saturday, April 10 at 2 PM.

DEPAUL

DePaul enters the match at 7-3 overall and 2-0 in BIG EAST play, with conference wins over Marquette and Creighton. The Blue Demons will face Butler on Thursday.
DePaul finished last season at 6-7 when the season was called off.
The Blue Demons picked up the 4-3 win over the Musketeers on March 1.
DePaul finished the 2018-19 season with an 11-12 record and recorded a 6-2 record in BIG EAST Conference play.
The Blue Demons defeated Xavier in the BIG EAST Tournament Championship in 2019 as a No. 2 seed.

BUTLER

Butler is 4-6 with wins over SIUE, Marian, Dayton and Valpo. The Bulldogs will play DePaul on Thursday.
Butler was 6-7 last season when the remainder of the schedule was called off.
In the last match-up in 2019, the Musketeers defeated the Bulldogs, 7-0, in the regular season finale, giving Xavier 20 wins total going into the post season, including 18-straight to close out the regular season.
Xavier has only fallen to Butler one time in their 15 meetings, dating back to 2006.
Butler has not scored a point against Xavier in a match since 2013 when they fell to the Musketeers, 6-1. Xavier is 14-1 against the Bulldogs since 2006.
In the 2019 BIG EAST Championships, Butler fell, 4-0, to Georgetown in the first round.

LAST WEEKEND

Xavier women's tennis moved to 11-3 on the season with a pair of wins over Davidson, 4-3, and Gardner-Webb, 6-1.
Against Davidson, the Wildcats took the early 1-0 lead after securing the doubles points on the No. 1 court, 6-4, against Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas, and the No. 3 court, 7-5, against Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham. Kaitlin Ruether and Kat Lyman too the 6-1 win on the No. 2 court.
Xavier responded to take a 2-1 lead with wins on the No. 2 court for Anna Roggenburk, 6-4, 6-1, and on the No. 3 court for Imani Graham, 7-5, 6-0.
Davidson tied it up with a three-set win in the No. 1 spot against Kat Lyman 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, making it 2-2.
Xavier responded with the next two points, with Emily Thomas winning on the No. 5, 6-4, 6-0, and Kailtin Ruether taking the No. 4 court, 7-6 (1-0), 4-6, 6-0 to make it 4-2 Xavier.
The Wildcats picked up the final point, a 7-5, 6-3 win on the No. 6 court against Natalie Moyer to set the final score at 4-3.
Against Gardner-Webb,Kaitlin Ruether and Kat Lyman picked up a 6-1 win in the No. 2 doubles spot and Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham took the No. 3 spot 6-2 to secure the doubles point. Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas fell 7-5 in the No. 1 spot.
Anna Roggenburk made it 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win in the No. 3 singles spot, then pushed it to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-3 win in the No. 2 spot for Kat Lyman.
Imani Graham secured the win with a 6-1, 6-3 win on the No. 4 court, making it 4-0.
Emily Thomas made it 5-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win on No. 5 singles and Ahmeir Kyle picked up the final point on a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win on the No. 1 court.
GW picked up a point on the No. 5 court, topping Kaitlin Ruether 7-6 (5), 6-3, 15-13 to make the final score 6-1

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.