GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Trinity University turned away a valiant effort from Southwestern University to earn its second consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship. The Tigers earned a 5-2 victory over the Pirates Sunday afternoon at the Marvin D. Henderson Sr. Tennis Courts Sunday on the campus of Southwestern. Official Website | Postmatch Interview | Photo Album
In a battle of two Top 20 teams, 16th-ranked Trinity was too much to overcome for 20th-ranked Southwestern, even with the latter enjoying home court advantage on what turned out to be a gorgeous day for tennis.
The doubles duos of Trinity Levy and Cate Cushing and Ruth Hill and Olivia Kim gave Trinity an early 2-0 lead, each garnering 8-4 victories at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively. Southwestern's Emma Kesterson and Erika Synoski eeked out a win at No. 3 doubles to keep the Pirates in the match, defeating the duo from Trinity by an 8-6 margin.
Southwestern's Alli Ziehm kept the momentum flowing and evened the match with her 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 6 singles over Trinity's Ella Cummings. From there, the remaining singles matches were battles with almost an hour passing before the next result was posted, a 6-4, 7-5 victory by Trinity's Olivia Kim over Southwestern's Emma Kesterson - both regionally ranked singles players - that gave the lead back to the Tigers. Another battle of regionally-ranked players produced another Trinity win as Ruth Hill defeated Nina Mitrofanova, 7-5, 7-5, to leave the Tigers one win away from the title.
That win didn't take long to arrive as Cate Cushing delivered the 7-6, 7-5 victory over Southwestern's Sydney Wahl and the celebration was on.
The championship is the 25th overall for the Trinity women's tennis program, the third-most conference crowns by one program in SCAC history, trailing only the Trinity men's tennis program, which won its 27th earlier in the day, and the 26 by the Trinity women's soccer program.
As conference champion, Trinity (15-5) earns the SCAC's automatic qualification for the NCAA III National Championship tournament, and will learn its destination for NCAA for regional competition when brackets are announced tomorrow. Southwestern, which was one slot behind Trinity in the latest NCAA Regional rankings, will await word of an at-large berth.
First, Second and Third round play will be held on various campus sites from May 5-7 with the 2023 NCAA III tournament's final site at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Once at the finals site, quarterfinal, semifinal and championship play will occur from May 14-17.
#16 TRINITY UNIVERSITY 5, #20 SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 2
April 30, 2023 at Georgetown, Texas (Marvin D. Henderson Sr. Tennis Courts)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Ruth Hill (TU) def. Nina Mitrofanova (SU) 7-5, 7-5 |
| 2. Olivia Kim (TU) def. Emma Kesterson (SU) 6-4, 7-5 |
| 3. Trinity Levy (TU) vs. Taylor Despriet (SU) 6-3, 3-6, 2-0, unfinished |
| 4. Cate Cushing (TU) def. Sydney Wahl (SU) 7-6, 7-5 |
| 5. Ellie Hughes (TU) vs. Lydia Lee (SU) 2-6, 6-2, 1-2, unfinished |
| 6. Alli Ziehm (SU) def. Ella Cummings (TU) 6-1, 6-0 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Ruth Hill/Olivia Kim (TU) def. Nina Mitrofanova/Alli Ziehm (SU) 8-4 |
| 2. Trinity Levy/Cate Cushing (TU) def. Daryl Locke/Taylor Despriet (SU) 8-4 |
| 3. Emma Kesterson/Erika Synoski (SU) def. Brooke Belitz/Ellie Hughes (TU) 8-6 |
| Match Notes |
| Southwestern (Tex.) 18-5; National ranking #20; Regional ranking #4 |
| Trinity (Tex.) 15-5; National ranking #16; Regional ranking #3 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (6,2,1,4) |
UP NEXT
The NCAA will announce team selections May 1, and the first three rounds will be played May 5-7. The team quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship, along with the singles and doubles tournament, are set for May 13-22 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando,
