Missing its top two singles players, the Muhlenberg women’s tennis team suffered a 6-3 loss at Moravian.

The Greyhounds are in the midst of their regular season. The Mules play their regular season in the spring.

Senior Sarah Niebler won at both doubles and singles.

The loss cut Muhlenberg’s lead in the 2003-04 Matte Award standings to 2-1. The next Matte contest is a volleyball match at Muhlenberg on Oct. 2.

Click here for box score.

STX/NFHCA Poll school (#1 votes) record last rank 1. Rowan (25) 4-0 2 2. Salisbury (2) 5-0 3 3. Messiah 4-1 1 4. New Jersey 5-1 4 5. Cortland State 4-0 6 6. Middlebury 4-0 7 7t. Muhlenberg 7-0 10 7t. Skidmore 5-1 13 9. Mary Washington 5-1 11 10. Bowdoin 4-0 15 11. Eastern Mennonite 7-0 16 12. Montclair State 4-1 9 13. McDaniel (1) 6-1 5 14. Ursinus 3-2 17 15. Lebanon Valley 3-2 8 16. Williams 2-1 12 17. Springfield 4-2 14 18. William Smith 3-2 18 19. Colby 5-0 nr 20. Franklin & Marshall 3-3 19

The Muhlenberg field hockey team has climbed to No. 7 in the STX/NFHCA Division III poll.

The Mules were ranked 10th last week, but moved up after defeating Delaware Valley and then-No. 9 Montclair State. Two other teams that had been ranked ahead of Muhlenberg, No. 5 McDaniel and No. 8 Lebanon Valley, also lost during the week.

The national ranking is the highest for a Muhlenberg team since 1996, when men’s soccer was ranked third early in the season. Women’s basketball was the last Mule team in the top 10, reaching No. 8 two years ago.

One of 15 remaining undefeated teams in Division III, Muhlenberg hosts McDaniel, now ranked 13th, in its Centennial Conference opener on Friday night. The Mules also host Richard Stockton this week.