LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2021 SCAC Men's Tennis all-tournament team this morning. Complete Release
Trinity University’s Jordan Pitts earned all-tournament honors for the fourth straight championship as a singles player and for a third straight tournament for his doubles work. He was 1-0 at No. 5 singles at this year’s event and received prior recognition in 2017 at No. 3 singles and in both 2018 and 2019 at No. 2 singles. Pitts teamed with Wilson Hamilton to go 2-0 at No. 3 doubles at this year’s championship. He had previously earned doubles recognition in 2018 and 2019. Hamilton is also a three-time all-tourney honoree at doubles, earning recognition at the No. 3 line in both 2018 and 2019.
Trinity’s Christian Settles, was the Tigers’ third repeat all-tourney honoree. Partnered with Hao Nguyen, the duo went 2-0 at No. 1 doubles at this year’s championship. Settles had earned all-tourney honors with Hamilton at No. 3 doubles at the 2019 event. He received all-tourney recognition for the first time as a singles player at this year’s championship, going 1-0 at the No. 6 line.
Southwestern University’s Hunter Bajoit, who went 1-0 at No. 1 singles, earned all-tourney honors for the second straight time as he was a designee at No. 2 singles in 2019.
The only other repeat all-tournament honoree was Mario Gallinar of Schreiner, who went 1-0 at No. 6 singles at this year’s event just as he did at the 2019 tournament.
Currently the top-ranked team in the West Region, the Trinity University men won their 11th straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a 5-2 decision over Southwestern University, the No. 2 team in the West Region, this past Sunday at Trinity’s Butch Newman Tennis Center.
With the victory, the Tigers (14-7) also secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.
Trinity not only earned its 11th straight SCAC Championships, but this marks the program's 25th overall SCAC men's tennis crown - the most championships by any one program in league history.
The Tigers led 2-1 after the doubles competition. Trinity’s Christian Settles and Hao Nguyen, ranked seventh in the NCAA West Region, were first off the court with an 8-1 victory at No. 1 doubles over Drew Shuvalov and Carlos Rodero.
The Pirates evened the count at 1-1 as Vesko Lekovic and Hunter Bajoit took the second line 8-5 over Cameron Krimbill and Alessio Azzalini.
Trinity took the lead by winning No. 3 doubles as Jordan Pitts and Wilson Hamilton defeated Alexander Joseph and Anton Borovik 8-5.
Settles gave the Tigers a 3-1 edge by winning the sixth line of singles 6-3, 6-2 over Borovik. Pitts increased the lead by winning the fifth line 7-5, 6-1 in a pairing with Steven Tibbetts.
Southwestern kept in the fight by winning No. 1 singles as Hunter Bajoit, ranked seventh in the region, beat top-ranked Cameron Krimbill 6-4, 6-3.
The clincher for the Tigers came at No. 2 singles as ninth-ranked Azzalini outfought Joseph 7-5, 7-6 (3).
*2021 SCAC Men's Tennis All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles – Hunter Bajoit, Southwestern; Juanrodrigo Lopez, St. Thomas
No. 2 Singles – Alessio Azzalini, Trinity
No. 3 Singles – Hao Nguyen, Trinity
No. 4 Singles – Dorian Cudina, St. Thomas; Carlos Rodero, Southwestern
No. 5 Singles – Jordan Pitts, Trinity; Jace Ware, St. Thomas
No. 6 Singles – Matthew Cochran, Austin College; Mario Gallinar, Schreiner; Christian Settles, Trinity
No. 1 Doubles – Hao Nguyen/Christian Settles, Trinity; Brett O'Brien/Preston Spivey, Austin College
No. 2 Doubles – Hunter Bajoit/Vesko Lekovic, Southwestern; Race Haas/Tyler Head, St. Thomas
No. 3 Doubles – Wilson Hamilton/Jordan Pitts, Trinity
*Any player (or doubles team) that goes through the conference tournament undefeated is named to the all-tournament team automatically. If no one player or team goes undefeated using the above criteria, then the next best record at that position will be named to the all-tournament team. Coaches may also nominate a player for the all-tournament team.
