LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Five of the seven Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s tennis teams were in action this week.
Trinity University traveled to St. Peter, Minn. to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Indoor National Championships. After facing three close matches against nationally-ranked competition, the Tigers came out with the trophy, earning their first ITA Indoor National Championship.
Colorado College kicked off their spring season with a win over Colorado Christian University, while Schreiner University, Southwestern University and Texas Lutheran University each continued their season.
Colorado College
The Tigers kicked off their spring season with an 8-1 win
over Division II Colorado Christian Friday night. Jason Gutierrez
led the way by winning at the No. 1 spot in doubles and singles. He
paired with Jack Burger for an 8-2 in the top spot. Burger earned a
singles win at the No. 2 spot with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Ross Sherman and
Jack Benham captured the No. 3 doubles match 8-2. The Tigers won
the other four singles matches in straight sets. In the No. 3
singles spot, Casey Shaw won 6-2, 6-2, before Ross Sherman took the
fourth line 6-1, 6-1. Taylor Delehanty and Ben Bacher won in the
No. 5 and No. 6 spots, respectively.
Schreiner University
The Mountaineers with 1-2 this weekend, beginning with a
9-0 loss to Our Lady of the Lake University on Friday. The closest
match of the day came in No. 2 doubles, where Nick Pena and Dayton
Hancock were edged 8-6 by the OLLU pair. At No. 2 singles, Austin
Carrola fell 6-2, 6-3 and in the No. 6 spot, Teg Lozano fell 6-3,
6-3. The following day, the Mountaineers headed to Abilene to take
on McMurry University and Hardin Simmons University. SU split the
matches, falling 8-1 to McM, but defeating HSU. In the morning
match against McMurry, the team’s lone point came in doubles
action as Carrola and Pena teamed up to win their match 8-5. Later
in the day, the Mountaineers ended their four-match losing streak
with a 5-4 win over the Cowboys. Schreiner lost in the No. 1
singles spot, but picking up a win by Carrola at No. 2. In the
fourth spot, Josh Ramirez won in straight sets. The Mountaineers
dropped the fifth line, but a straight set (6-4, 6-3) win by
Christian Casillas in the No. 6 singles match gave the Mountaineers
the victory.
Southwestern University
The Pirates swept their competition this weekend, moving
their record to 5-0 on the season. Friday, SU took on Howard Payne
University, winning 9-0. In singles action, the Pirates
didn’t give up a single set, with the most competition coming
in the No. 1 spot as William Ellis defeated Edgar Torres 6-2, 6-3.
In the No. 6 spot, Alvaro Rojas swept his competition 6-0, 6-0. In
No. 2 and 3 doubles, SU won 8-0. Saturday morning, the Pirates
hosted University of Southwest, defeating the Mustangs 7-2.
Southwestern won all three doubles matches. Niko Snovely and Grant
Gideon took down Alfaro/Castro in No. 1 doubles 8-4,
Ellis/Rod Khansari were in a battle in No. 2 doubles, but
defeated Diaz/Rendon 9-8. Sam McCready and Oliver Farmen teamed up
to take down Mohan/Mizera 8-4 in No. 3. In singles play, Snovely
made quick work of Mizera in No. 1 singles, winning 6-4, 6-0.
Ayinde Hall fell in No. 2 7-5, 6-2 to Castro, but Farmen easily
handled Alfaro 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 3 spot. Grant Gideon was edged
out 6-4. 5-7, 10-6 in No. 4 singles, while Neik, Khansari and Sam
McCready closed out the win with wins in No. 5 and 6 singles, 6-1,
6-3 and 4-6, respectively. Mary Hardin-Baylor took the court in the
afternoon to try to knock Southwestern off their winning ways, but
SU would have none of it, winning all three doubles matches.
Snovely/Gideon won 8-2, Ellis/Rod Khansari 8-6 and Farmen/McCready
8-4 Southwestern won all but one singles match despite multiple tie
breaker sets. Snovely had full control the entire match to win 6-2,
6-1 over Wilding. Hall won his first set 7-5, but was narrowly
defeated 6-4, 10-5 to fall in No. 2 singles. Farmen needed a tie
breaker set as well and emerged with the win 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. Gideon
took down Thompson 7 (2)- 6, 7(1)-6. Neik Khansari made quick work
of Martin 6-0, 6-2 and Ellis finished off the Cru with an easy 6-1,
6-2 win.
Texas Lutheran University
The Bulldogs traveled to Abilene this weekend to take on
McMurry and Hardin Simmons. In their first match up of the day, TLU
took on McMurry, but fell 9-0 to the War Hawks. In doubles action,
Eric Beckenbach and Wade Dillenbeck lost a tough 8-6 match at No. 2
before Gunner Robison and Greg Nelson also fell in a
tightly-contested No. 3 match, falling 9-7. Later in the day, the
Bulldogs narrowly fell to HSU 5-4. In the No. 4 singles spot, Ryan
Beene picked up the Bulldogs first singles win of the day,
defeating Jordan Wilson 7-5, 6-1. Beckenbach finished out singles
action at No. 6 with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win. In doubles play, Sanio
Dizdarevic and Cliff Pack teamed up to win the No. 1 spot 8-6,
while Dillenbeck/Beckenbach won 8-3 in the No. 2 line.
Trinity University
The Tigers traveled north this week to compete in the ITA
Indoor National Championships. Despite a couple of close matches,
TU came out with some new hardware. On the first day of the
competition, the top-seeded Tigers faced Gustavus Adolphus College
on their home courts. Trinity took two of the three doubles matches
as Adam Krull and Clayton Niess took the No. 2 doubles 8-6 and the
top-ranked pair of Jordan Mayer and Aaron Skinner won the No. 1
double 8-5. Krull widened the lead with a 7-5, 6-1 victory at No. 1
singles and Skinner won the No. 2 line 6-4, 6-2. These wins put
Trinity within one point of a victory, which Charlie Curtis secured
in the No. 5 line with a 6-1, 6-1 straight set win. Saturday, the
Tigers faced No. 4 Johns Hopkins University and came out with a 6-3
win. Curtis ended up clinching the win in the No. 5 spot again,
rallying back in a three-set battle 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. After doubles,
the Tigers had a 2-1 set lead. Jordan Mayer/Skinner teamed up with
capture No. 1 doubles and Niess/Krull took No. 2. Skinner and
Jordan Mayer added to the Trinity lead with wins in their
respective singles matches, but the Blue Jays had their own pair of
single wins to cut the Trinity lead to 4-3. Curtis finished in the
No. 5 spot to secure a win, and Chas Mayer took his singles match
to give the Tigers their sixth point. In the final match of the
weekend, the Tigers took on Emory University, defeating the Eagles
5-4. For the third time this weekend, Curtis had the clinching
honors in the No. 5 singles spot, as he earned a straight-set 6-4,
6-3 win. Curtis also teamed up with Chas Mayer in No. 3 doubles to
earn a point for TU. Niess/Krull earned a win in the No. 2 spot to
give Trinity a 2-1 lead heading into singles action. Emory took the
first singles point, tying it up 2-2. Skinner won No. 2 singles
win, and Krull put them within one point after taking the No. 1
spot. It was all Curtis after that as he took the No. 5 spot to
give Trinity their first ITA Indoor National Championship.