(Story courtesy of Trinity University website)
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 11 Trinity men's tennis team lost in a 5-0 shutout in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals against second-ranked Amherst College at Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Tuesday.
The Tigers closed out their season with a 16-13 record, and Amherst, last year's finalist, improved to 34-1. Amherst had defeated Trinity 7-2 last March at Delavan Tennis Stadium.
Amherst swept the three doubles matches, and won Nos. 2 and 4 singles when the dual match was halted.
The Jeffs Austin Chafetz and Luis Rattenhuber took No. 1 doubles, edging Trinity's Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal 9-7. The score was tied at 6-6, when Amherst won the next game. The Tigers fought back to tie the match at 7-7. Amherst held serve, and then broke Trinity, to capture the match.
No. 2 doubles went to Amherst's Moritz Koenig and Wes Waterman, 8-4 winners over Erick DelaFuente and Max Frey. The early part of the match was deadlocked at 3-3, until Amherst went ahead 4-3. Chris Dale and Mark Kahan beat Trinity's Ben Carroll and Don Murray 8-4 at No. 3 doubles, which had been tied at 4-4.
Kahan gave the Jeffs a 4-0 lead by winning No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-0 over Cocanougher. Joey Fritz clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Kowal at No. 4 singles.
Four matches did not finish, after the deciding point.
Frey and Rattenhuber were tied at 6-6 in the first set of No. 1 singles. DelaFuente won the first set of No. 3 singles 6-4, and Chafetz led the second 5-1. Greg Haugen took the first set of No. 5 singles 6-1, and Waterman led the second 4-2. Amherst's Andrew Jung won the first set of No. 6 singles 6-2, and led Carroll 3-1 in the second.
Trinity, led by second-year head Coach Russell McMindes, competed in the national quarterfinals for the second straight year, and 14th overall. The Tigers qualified for the final eight by winning the regional tournament at St. Peter, Minn. After receiving a first-round bye, Trinity defeated host Gustavus Adolphus 5-3, and then beat Chicago 5-2 in the regional final.
The Tigers are far from finished with NCAA competition, though, as four players (three men and one woman) will compete in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournaments Friday through Sunday at Claremont.
Cocanougher and Kowal will be in the 16-team doubles tournament, while Cocanougher and Frey will compete in the 32-player singles event. Thavindra Ekanayake will represent the Tiger women in the singles competition.
.jpg?max_width=280&max_height=139&crop=true)
.jpg?max_width=280&max_height=139&crop=true)
