(Story courtesy of Trinity University)
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Tiger men's tennis team defeated Rhodes College 7-2 on Sunday afternoon, winning the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship for the third consecutive season.
Trinity improved to 20-7 on the season with the win, which is the 10th win in the last 11 matches for the Tigers. It is the 17th overall conference title for the Trinity Tigers.
Opening the match, Trinity took two out of three doubles points to take an early 2-1 lead. Max Frey and Erick DelaFuente won 8-4 at No. 1 doubles, while Charlie Curtis and Aaron Skinner took an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles.
The final doubles match was not as easily decided. Jordan Mayer and Ben Carroll fell 8-9 (5-7) to put Rhodes on the board in the title match.
The Tigers quickly clinched the match by winning the first three singles contests out of the gate, and taking five of six singles contests overall.
Frey won 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 at line one singles, while Charlie Curtis won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. Mayer (6-1, 6-3) and Skinner (6-3, 6-1) won at the fourth and fifth positions, while Carroll won 6-4, 6-3 to round out Trinity's point totals. DelaFuente was Trinity's only singles loss, but it took a 2-6, 6-3, 9-11 match to get the win for Rhodes.
Trinity earns the league's autoamtic bid to the NCAA Playoffs with the win, and the Tigers have advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals each of the past two seasons.
