(Story taken from the Trinity University website)
WHITEWATER, Wisc. - The Trinity University Tigers
men advanced to the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships
quarterfinals with a 5-2 third-round victory over the Kenyon
College Lords Sunday at the Whitewater Regional at
Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Trinity (18-9), ranked No. 13 in the nation, will take on No. 3
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps May 25 at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.
The three-day team championship concludes May 27. Kenyon, ranked
ninth nationally, ended its season with a 20-7 record.
The Tigers, led by first-year head coach Russell McMindes (a former Trinity standout), will make its 13th appearance in the Elite Eight since 1993. Trinity last advanced to the national team event in 2007.
Trinity, which won its 14th straight match, clinched Sunday’s round of 16 tilt at No. 4 singles, as junior Cory Kowal beat William VandenBerg 6-1, 7-6 (2). Kowal, from Austin, Texas (Anderson), also clinched the Tigers’ 5-0 win over Carleton College on Saturday.
The Tigers opened Sunday’s match with a 2-1 lead after doubles. Ben Carroll and Don Murray gave the Tigers the edge by winning No. 3 doubles, with an 8-4 victory over VandenBerg and Paul Burgin. Erick DelaFuente and Max Frey beat Kenyon’s Tomas Piskacek and Jeremy Polster 8-2 at No. 2 doubles. The Lords took No. 1 doubles, with Michael Greenberg and Charles Brody beating Kowal and Bobby Cocanougher 9-8.
DelaFuente captured No. 3 singles, defeating Polster 6-2, 6-3, and Carroll beat Brody 6-4, 7-5 at No. 6.
Two matches were halted after the clinch by Trinity: No. 2 singles, Cocanougher, Trinity, vs. Piskacek (6-2, 4-6, 0-2); and No. 5 singles, Murray, Trinity, vs. Burgin (6-7 (5), 4-3).
Trinity is competing in its 17th NCAA Tournament. Former coach Butch Newman, now Trinity’s Director of Tennis, led the Tigers to 16 straight NCAA postseason tournaments. He also guided the Tiger men and women to the 2000 NCAA Team Championships.
Following the team tournament, three Tiger players will compete
in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, also at Oberlin,
from May 28-30. Frey, a sophomore from Tulsa, Okla. (Holland Hall),
has a slot in the 32-draw singles tournament. Kowal and
Cocanougher, a junior from Southlake, Texas (Carroll), are in the
16-draw doubles event.
TRINITY 5, KENYON 2
Doubles
1. Michael Greenberg/Charles Brody, Kenyon, def. Bobby
Cocanougher/Cory Kowal, 9-8
2. Erick DelaFuente/Max Frey, Trinity, def. Tomas
Piskacek/Jeremy Polster 8-2
3. Ben Carroll/Don Murray, Trinity, def. William
VandenBerg/Paul Burgin 8-4
Singles
1. Greenberg, Kenyon, def. Frey 6-4, 6-4
3. DelaFuente, Trinity, def. Polster 6-2, 6-3
4. Kowal, Trinity, def. VandenBerg 6-1, 7-6 (2) (clinch
match)
6. Carroll, Trinity, def. Brody 6-4, 7-5
2. Cocanougher, Trinity, vs. Piskacek did not finish
(6-2, 4-6, 0-2)
5. Murray, Trinity, vs. Burgin, did not finish (6-7
(5), 4-3 )
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