(Story courtesy of Trinity University)
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Trinity's women's tennis team defeated Sewanee: University of the South 6-3 to win the team's first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship since the 2006 season.
Trinity is now 18-7 on the season, bringing home the team's 16th overall SCAC title after finishing third the past two years.
After doubles, it looked like Trinity would run away with the match after taking all three points. Teams of Katie Griffith/Kylie Hornbeck and Kassie Seger/Stephanie Williamson both won 8-4 at lines two and three. In No. 1 doubles, Mackenzie Knoop and Thavindra Ekanayake edged their opponents 9-8 (8-6) to make it 3-0.
Williamson won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 singles to put the Tigers up 4-0, but Sewanee took the next match for its first point of the day. Ekanayake lost 1-6, 2-6 at No. 2 singles for Sewanee's initial point. The two teams then went to a third set in all four of the final matches to extend the match.
Sewanee took two more singles victories to make it 4-3, putting Trinity in danger of allowing the lead to slip away. Griffith lost 0-6, 6-2, 2-6 at line three, while Hornbeck suffered a 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 0-6 loss at the fourth position.
The Tigers then pulled out the next two victories, though, securing the win for the conference crown with a pair of comebacks. Knoop won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to clinch the win, then Lavinia Bendandi finished things off with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 5 singles.
Trinity receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs, which will be the team's first postseason appearance since the 2008 season.
