While the result of last weekend’s Big East tennis tournament will have both St. John’s teams placing fifth, it is not a true indication of the quality of their play and their overall success.

The women’s team (12-7) won three of its four matches and the men (13-5) took two of three in the eight-team tournament.

“It really was extreme tennis all the way through,” women’s coach Allison Davidson said.

The high heat took its toll on the fifth-seeded Red Storm during their 4-2 quarterfinal loss to fourth-seeded DePaul.

The Blue Demons won the double point by posted victories in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, including a win by the No. 32 ranked double team of Beatrix Csordas and Gergana Ganeva.

In the singles flight, the Johnnies had wins at No. 3 and No. 5 by Barbora Blahutiakova and Alison Adamski. But Nataly Tumsevica could not pull out a three set victory at No. 1.

The Red Storm finished the tournament by defeating Rutgers (4-1) and West Virginia (4-1).

Men’s Tennis

The men’s team knew they had not drawn an easy first round opponent in host South Florida.

“I think beating South Florida will be extremely tough and it will be close just because we are playing down in their weather,” junior Louis Desmarteaux said before the match.

The Red Storm would drop the match 4-3. After losing the double point, St. John’s almost pulled out the victory with singles wins at the No. 1, No 2, and No. 6 spots by Desmarteaux, David Nylen and Claudio Halim, but fell one victory short.

The team rebounded from the loss with a 4-2 win over Georgetown and 4-1 victory over Rutgers.