Story courtesy of Trinity University
SUMTER, S. C. - Trinity University can claim another national championship, as seniors Jordan Mayer and Aaron Skinner won the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Doubles Championship on Friday.
The Tiger duo won 6-4, 6-4 over Connor Hudson and Kalyan Chadalavada of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the title match.
For Skinner, it was the second time he brought home the top prize, as he won the 2012 ITA Singles Championship.
The victory at the Palmetto Tennis Center marked Trinity’s fourth ITA national doubles crown, with the last coming in 2010 from Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal. The Tigers have now won a total of 11 ITA singles and doubles championships.
Mayer and Skinner advanced to the championship match by beating David Liu and Deepak Sabada of the University of Chicago 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals earlier today. The resilient Tiger team actually trailed 4-1 in the opening set, but rallied to win 11 of the next 12 games to nab the victory and advance to the championship.
The two Tigers had to work for the title, as they started the tournament last Wednesday by winning a play-in match over Jake Hoeger and Zach Hewlin of Whitman College. Trinity’s tandem took out No. 2 seeds Alex Ruderman and Ian Wagner of Emory University in Thursday’s quarterfinals to move on to the semifinals.
Up next is a 1:00 p.m. (ET) match Saturday with the NAIA champion doubles team of Deni Zmak and Jaime Sanchez-Canamares-Rios of Embry-Riddle University. At stake is a berth in Sunday’s “Super Bowl,” where the winners of singles and doubles in Divisions II, III, the NAIA, and Junior College slug it out to determine the overall champions.
Trinity junior Adam Krull meets Ruderman at 10:30 a.m. Saturday for the fifth-place position in singles.