PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The doubles team of senior Lexi DeNucci (Glastonbury, Conn.) and junior Annalise Klopfer (Palm Harbor, Fla.) won their third straight match to begin the season but Villanova (1-2) fell by a narrow 4-3 margin to Temple (4-1) at TU Pavilion on Tuesday morning. After taking the doubles point to open the match, the Wildcats were defeated in four of the six singles matches as the team result came down to the final two matches in the fifth and sixth spots in the lineup.
 
DeNucci and Klopfer are 3-0 at No. 1 doubles this season after their 7-5 win over Ling Hsuan Wei and Sena Takebe. Villanova also won the No. 2 doubles match as senior Claudia Althans (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and junior Emily Strande (Centennial, Colo.) were 6-2 winners over Oleksandra Doroshenko and Rine Nozaki.
 
The Wildcats also won the doubles point in their match against Lehigh on Sunday in a return to action after a 35-day break in between competitions. In the third doubles match on Tuesday, junior Sabina Grigorian (Atlanta, Ga.) and freshman Rose Kenny (Charlotte, N.C.) were trailing 5-4 against Vineetha Mummadi and Cecilia Castelli when Villanova clinched the doubles point.
 
DeNucci won her match against Nozaki in the No. 3 singles spot in a 6-1, 6-0 decision and improved to 2-1 on the season. The host Owls won the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 singles matches to take a 3-2 lead overall. Both the No. 5 and No. 6 matches extended to three sets to determine the team outcome.
 
Sophomore Caitlin Fisher (Cincinnati, Ohio) battled Takebe in the No. 5 spot and took the opening set before ultimately falling by set scores of 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. That match clinched the win for Temple just before freshman Bella Steffen (Cary, N.C.) outlasted Castelli to win her No. 6 singles match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Steffen is now 2-0 on the season after also scoring a win in the sixth spot of the lineup against Lehigh this past weekend.
 
Villanova hosts St. John's on Friday at 3 p.m.