Story courtesy of Trinity University Sports Information
ATLANTA - The 12th-ranked Trinity men's tennis team opened the NCAA Division III Championship tournament with a 5-1 second-round regional victory over #36 Sewanee: The University of the South (TN) on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (18-9), who received a first-round bye, will take on top-ranked Emory at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday in the regional final. The winner advances to the NCAA quarterfinals May 23 at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sewanee completed its dual-match season with an 18-7 record. Trinity and Sewanee are former rivals from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
"It was nice to get back on the court and compete again," said Head Coach Russell McMindes. "It's always an honor just being in the NCAA tournament. It made it extra special going against an old SCAC foe. But I was proud of the guys and their effort and focus. Doubles was close, but that was to be expected, as Sewanee is a good team, and we looked a little uptight. After coming out with a lead, the guys relaxed and went to work in singles. It was a quality result, and now we get a great opportunity to go against Emory tomorrow. Should be fun."
Chas Mayer and Clayton Niess were first out of the victory gate for Trinity, by winning #2 doubles. Sewanee produced its only point of the matchup by winning #1 doubles, as Paxton Deuel and Matt Tyer ended in the loss column. Wilson Lambeth and Eliot Guin gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead by winning the third line, while improving their record to 12-3.
Tyer won in straight sets at #4 singles. Lambeth won a hard-fought first-set tiebreaker, and took the second stanza of #3 singles to widen the Tigers lead. The clincher came at #1 singles as Deuel convincingly captured his match, and improved his mark to 15-5.
Trinity is competing in its seventh straight NCAA tournament. Last year, the Tigers defeated Wilkes (PA) University and the host University of Mary Washington, at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals at Cincinnati, Ohio, and came up short against Middlebury (VT) College.
