Women's Tennis Face Northwestern in NCAA Tournament First Round

Friday, May 7

Evanston, Ill.

4 PM ET

Xavier University

Northwestern

Women's Tennis Face Northwestern in NCAA Tournament First Round

05.06.21 | Women's Tennis

Live Stats

Winner advances to face No. 10 Texas A&M/Drake

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier women's tennis opens up 2021 NCAA Tournament play against the Northwestern Wildcats (18-5) on Friday, May 7, at 4:00 p.m. in Evanston, Ill. in the program's second-ever NCAA match.

The No. 10 seed Texas A&M and Drake will also face off in Evanston, with the winners of both matches advancing to play each other in the second round.

The NCAA Tournament field was announced on Monday evening live on NCAA.com. The first two rounds of the 64-team tournament will be held at campus sites and then the 2021 NCAA championship will be at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, from May 16-28.

Xavier secured an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the program's second BIG EAST Championship on Monday, April 26. The Musketeers are 17-3 overall and enter the NCAA tournament on an eight-match win streak. This is Xavier's second trip to the NCAA Tournament, after also winning the BIG EAST title and earning an automatic bid in 2016.

OPPONENT NOTES

Northwestern, ranked No. 21 in the most recent ITA rankings, earned an at-large bid out of the Big Ten Conference with an 18-5 overall record. NU will serve as hosts as the first and second rounds.
The Wildcats went 17-4 against Big Ten opponents this season.
This is the first match-up between the two programs.
If the Musketeers advance, they'll play the winner of Texas A&M and Drake.
Texas A&M earned the No. 10 national seed and enters the match at 19-7 overall and 9-4 in SEC play.
The Aggies advanced to the SEC Championship match where they fell to Georgia.
This match-up would be the first between the two programs.
Drake enters the tournament with an 11-8 overall record and won the Missouri Valley Conference championship, earning the automatic qualifier.
The Bulldogs entered the conference tournament with an 8-8 record and fell behind with a 2-3 regular season conference mark before storming through the MVC Tournament.
This would be the first match-up between Drake and the Musketeers.

KYLE EARNS BID TO SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP

Ahmeir Kyle became the first Musketeer earn a spot in the 64-player NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships, as selected by the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Subcommittee. Kyle is 10-3 on the season in singles action, all played in the No. 1 spot, and has a 2-0 mark against ranked opponents.
The singles competition will be conducted May 23-28 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, after the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 16-22. The University of Central Florida and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission will serve as hosts.
Kyle was the automatic qualification from the BIG EAST after earning hte No. 111 ranking from ITA last week, her third straight week in the ITA Top 125. A bid into the Division I singles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125 for eligible/entered singles players.

NCAA NOTES

This is Xavier's second NCAA appearance, also playing in the 2016 NCAA Tournament after winning the BIG EAST Championship.
Xavier faced Kentucky at Michigan in the program's first NCAA match, falling 4-1 to the Wildcats.

BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Musketeers won the program's second BIG EAST Championship in Cayce, S.C. over the weekend of April 23-26.
Xavier earned the No. 1 seed in the conference championship an a first round bye.
Play opened for the Musketeers in the quarterfinals against Marquette, with the Musketeers winning, 4-0.
Against Marquette, Xavier went ahead 1-0 after picking up the doubles point for the 14th time this season. Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham took a 6-3 win in the No. 2 spot, their ninth double win as a team this season. Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas combined for their eighth win in doubles, taking the No. 1 spot, 6-4, to secure the doubles point.
Lucy Octave picked up a 6-1, 6-0 win in the No. 6 spot over Sarah Badawi to put Xavier ahead, 2-0, with her third straight singles win. Emily Thomas made it 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 win in the No. 5 spot against Elisabeth Desmarais with her eighth win of the season. Imani Graham secured the win for the Musketeers with a 6-0, 6-3 win in the No. 3 spot against Giulia Turconi, her 14th singles win of the season, a team-high.
In the semifinals, the Musketeers took on St. John's, taking a 4-1 win to advance to the championship for the fourth time since joining the conference. The match began on Saturday but was suspended until Sunday after the doubles point due to rain.
Xavier took the doubles point after Kat Lyman and Kaitlin Ruether took the first decision, 6-0, on the No. 3 court. St. John's took the decision on the No. 1 court, 6-2, against Emily Thomas and Ahmeir Kyle but Imani Graham and Anna Roggenburk to a 6-4 decision on the No. 2 court to secure the point.
After play was halted midway through the first set on singles action, the Musketeers picked up the first two singles decisions, with Anna Roggenburk taking a 6-2, 6-0 win on the No. 2 court, her 14th singles win of the season against Najah Dawson to put Xavier ahead 2-0. Kaitlin Ruether's 6-2, 6-1 win on the No. 4 court made it a 3-0 Xavier advantage.
St. John's picked up a point on the No. 1 court, 6-3, 6-4, against Kat Lyman to cut Xavier's lead to 3-1, but Imani Graham battled back after falling in set one to take a 1-6, 6-2, 6-0 win on the No. 3 court, her 15th singles win of her freshman season, to seal the 4-1 win for the Musketeers.
In the Championship match, Xavier faced off with No. 2 seed DePaul, taking the 4-1 win for the conference title and NCAA berth.
In doubles action, Xavier was in control across the board, taking a 5-2 lead on all three courts. Kat Lyman and Kaitlin Ruether picked up the 6-2 win on the No. 3 court and almost immediately after, Ahmeir Kyle and Emily Thomas sealed the point with a 6-2 win on the No. 1 court. Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham led 5-2 on the No. 2 court when the point was decided.
In singles play, Anna Roggenburk quickly made it a 2-0 Xavier advantage with a win in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, on the No. 3 court, her seventh-straight win and 15th singles win overall. Imani Graham continued her outstanding freshman season, taking point on the No. 4 court, 6-4, 6-3, for her team-best 16th singles win, including the last eight straight. DePaul picked up a point on the No. 5 court, 6-3, 6-3, against Kaitlin Ruether to make it 3-1 Xavier.
With the final three singles courts in a third set, Kat Lyman, on the No. 2 court, battled back to take the first set in tiebreakers, 7-6, before falling 3-6 in set two. Lyman came back to take the point and seal the win with a 6-2 victory in set three, setting the final score at 4-1, Xavier. The singles win was Lyman's 13th of the season.

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.