Trinity Duo Wins ITA Regional Doubles Championship

photo by Harrison LaLone, Trinity University
photo by Harrison LaLone, Trinity University

(Portions of this story taken from the Trinity University athletics website)

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Trinity University women's tennis made the most of its all-Tiger doubles showdown in the 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Regional Championships finale Sunday in the battle for a trip to the ITA Cup. RESULTS

Junior Cate Cushing and first-year Trinity Levy rallied from a 7-5 first-set miscue to defeat their teammates, sophomore duo Olivia Kim and Ruth Hill, in a 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-6) final tally.

The all-Tiger final was set up after an all-SCAC semifinal where Cushing and Levy defeated Southwestern's Nina Mitrofanova and Lydia Lee, 8-1, and Kim and Hill knocked off the Southwestern pairing of Alli Ziehm and Emma Kesterson, 8-3.

The entire championship match was a seesaw affair as neither duo held a margin of more than one game until Hill and Kim concluded the first at 7-5, though the sophomores held the lead from the start aside from a brief deficit at 3-2.

The script was flipped in the second as Cushing and Levy maintained a one-game advantage throughout until Kim and Hill forced the set into extras. Just as they had the entire way, even the tiebreaker held a one-point advantage until this season's newly-minted duo took the equalizer, 7-5.

The back-and-forth theme continued early into the superbreaker as they returned to the benches knotted up at 3-3. For the first time Sunday afternoon, one of the Tiger duos seized control as Cushing and Levy went on a 5-1 run en route to their victorious 10-6 mark.

Cushing and Levy earned All-American status with Sunday's victory, the 52nd and 53rd players in program history and the 110th overall selection, and will receive an automatic bid to the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia which begins on October 13.

Levy became the first Tiger rookie to earn All-America honors since the 2011 ITA regional competition. Eleven years ago, to the day, another all-Trinity doubles championship created the last Tiger first-year All-American, Mackenzie Knoop. The site of the 2011 championship stands as the lone notable difference between the occurrences as now-NCAA II University of Texas-Tyler played host.

Hill and Kim, a nationally-ranked duo from last season, will await the at-large bidding process as the ITA will fill out the remainder of the ITA Cup doubles bracket the week of October 3.

Levy also took part in the singles finale Sunday morning prior to the doubles matchup, but fell in straight 6-1 sets to UT-Dallas' Suzuka Nishino. Levy had advanced to the regional singles final after defeating a pair of entries from Southwestern University. In the morning's quarterfinal, she ceded the opening set in a 6-3 setback but rallied to dominate play the rest of the way on tallies of 6-1 and 6-2 over Sydney Wahl. In the noon cycle, the Trinity newcomer posted a straight-sets knockout of Lydia Lee, 6-2, 6-0.

SCAC Trio Compete at ITA Cup
October 17, 2022 SCAC Trio Compete at ITA Cup