(Story courtesy of Trinity University)
CARY, N.C. - First-year Tiger women's tennis player Mackenzie Knoop won two matches on Thursday at the NCAA Singles Championships, advancing to tomorrow's Quarterfinals.
Knoop battled through two three-set singles matches at the tournament, beating players from the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago. She also had to rally to win, dropping the opening set in both matches.
In the opening round, Knoop won 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 over Frances Tseng of Rochester, then won 5-7, 6-3, 3-0 (ret.) over Chicago's Kendra Higgins. Knoop will face Amherst College's Laura Danzig in the Quarterfinals on Friday, as the field has been trimmed from 32 players to just eight in one day.
In the NCAA Doubles Championship, Knoop teamed up with Thavindra Ekanayake for the 16-team tournament. Unfortunately, the Tigers fell 2-6, 2-6 to the Amherst team of Danzig and Gabby Devlin.
Knoop was earlier voted the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Year, after leading the Tiger women to their first conference championship since 2006. Trinity also made its first NCAA Playoff appearance in four years, but fell in the second round to Pomona-Pitzer College.
