(Photos courtesy of Joshua Moczygemba)
(Portions of this story courtesy of Trinity
University)
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - The Trinity Univeristy women’s tennis team opened the NCAA Division III Championship with a 5-2 regional win over Otterbein University on Thursday.
Trinity (14-8) will take on the host University of Mary Washington Eagles (17-7) in the second round at 10 a.m. (ET) on Friday. The 21st-ranked Eagles blanked Penn State University-Behrend 5-0 in the first round.
The Tigers are competing in their third straight NCAA tournament, and are led by first-year Head Coach Matt Haugen. Trinity took a 2-1 lead after doubles, then won three of four singles points to clinch the team victory.
In doubles, Kathleen Lundquist and Liza Southwick won at line two, while Caroline White and Gabrielle Roe remained undefeated at 8-0 after capturing the No. 3 match.
Southwick took a quick 6-0, 6-1 opened singles play with a victory at the second line, then Kristy Hamilton won No. 2 singles to give the Tigers a 4-1 advantage. After dropping the next match to make it 4-2, Trinity clinched with White's No. 4 singles victory.
The winner of Friday’s second-round match between Trinity and Mary Washington will advance to Saturday’s regional final at 3 p.m. (ET). Elizabethtown College meets the State University of New York-Geneseo later today in a first-round match. The winner will then face Johns Hopkins University in the second round on Friday.
The regional champion will advance to the NCAA Championships, to be held May 19-21 at Claremont, California.
