SUWANEE, Ga. -- On the heels of eighth-ranked Trinity picking up its 13th straight conference championship on Sunday, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2023 SCAC Men's Tennis All-Tournament team Thursday afternoon. Complete Release
Several student-athletes earned repeat All-Tournament honors from a year ago, including Trinity's Hao Nguyen, whoh earned his third straight all-Tournament nod for singles play. His teammate Alessio Azzalini, an all-Tournament selection this year for both his singles and doubles play, is also a repeat honoree having been named to the 2021 all-tournament team for singles and the 2022 all-tournament team for his doubles play.
St. Thomas' Jace Ware earned his third-straight all-Tournament nod for his singles play and Schreiner's Mario Gallinar is also a three-time honoree, having received earlier recognition in 2019 and 2021.
Other repeat honorees for their singles performances are Tyler Head of St. Thomas, Oscar Roy of Southwestern and Jonathan Barragan of Schreiner. On the doubles side, Max Schechter of Schreiner is a repeat honoree.
No conference program has won more SCAC titles than Trinity men's tennis as the Tigers have participated in all 31 men's tennis finals, winning all but four of them. Southwestern has been in the last eight finals but will have to wait at least one more year for its breakthrough moment.
Sunday's championship match opened with doubles play and the matches were hotly contested up and down the line. Southwestern jumped out to early leads at both the No. 1 and No. 2 lines and appeared poised to at least take a 2-1 lead, not unlike their April 14 regular season match when the Pirates used an early 2-1 doubles margin to jumpstart a 5-4 victory over the Tigers.
But after TU's Robert Chang and Dalton Locke closed out their No. 3 doubles match 8-5, the Tigers' Alessio Azzalini and Rafa Candelas Ruiz ralled from a 6-4 deficit to earn a 8-7 (5) victory in a tiebreaker to give Trinity an early 2-0 lead. Southwestern's Oscar Roy and Ashton Ellis held strong at the No. 1 line and kept the Pirates in the match with an 8-6 lead over Hao Nguyen and Eric Liao to cut Trinity's lead in half heading into singles action.
Azzalini and Nguyen quickly dispatched the Pirates' Bernardo Clemente and Steven Tibbetts and No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, with Azzalini taking a 6-1, 6-0 victory and Nguyen following with a 6-1, 6-2 margin. Southwestern's Roy picked up a point for the Pirates with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Liao at No. 3 singles, but just minutes later the Tigers' Chang provided the fifth and clinching point for Trinity with his 7-5, 6-1 win over the Pirates' Anton Borovik.
*2023 SCAC Men's Tennis All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles – Aiden Little, Colorado College; Hao Nguyen, Trinity
No. 2 Singles – Tyler Head, St. Thomas; Alessio Azzalini, Trinity
No. 3 Singles – Oscar Roy, Southwestern; Austin Cervantes, Schreiner
No. 4 Singles – Andrew Kaelin, Colorado College; Jace Ware, St. Thomas; Connor Whittington, Trinity
No. 5 Singles – Rafa Candelas Ruiz, Trinity; Ryan Flanagan, Southwestern; James Andrews, Colorado College; Jonathan Barragan, Schreiner; Rylan Hastings, Southwestern
No. 6 Singles – Robert Chang, Trinity; Nick Bishop, Colorado College; Jared Burton, Southwestern; Mario Gallinar, Schreiner
No. 1 Doubles – Jace Ware/Rodrigo Yoshikata, St. Thomas
No. 2 Doubles – Alessio Azzalini/Rafa Candelas Ruiz, Trinity
No. 3 Doubles – Robert Chang/Dalton Locke, Trinity; Sebastian Herrera/Steven Tibbetts, Southwestern; Drew Shuvalov/Steven Tibbetts, Southwestern; James Andrews/Nick Bishop, Colorado College; Jonathan Barragan/Max Schechter, Schreiner
*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.
