Whitewater, Wis. – The Trinity Tigers
men's tennis team opened the NCAA Division III Whitewater
Regional with a 5-0 second-round victory Saturday over the Carleton
College Knights.
Trinity (17-9), which won its 13th straight match,
will take on the winner of Kenyon and host Wisconsin-Whitewater at
noon Sunday in the third round. The winner of Sunday's match
will advance to the NCAA Championships Tournament, to be held May
25-27 at Oberlin, Ohio.
The Tigers, who received a first-round bye, won three tightly
played doubles matches. Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal edged Dan
Vollman and Winston Park 9-8 (6) at No. 1 doubles. Erick DelaFuente
and Max Frey beat Peter Dunn and Paul Cooper 9-8 (5) at No. 2
doubles. Ben Carroll and Don Murray completed the sweep by
defeating Austin Jiang and Jon Aranda 8-4.
Cocanougher beat Park 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. The clincher
for the Tigers came at No. 4 singles, with Kowal emerging as a 6-1,
6-4 winner over Vollman.
Four of the singles matches did not finish, as the dual match was
halted after the fifth point was won: No. 1, Frey vs. Dunn; No. 3,
DelaFuente vs. Jiang; No. 5, Murray vs. Alexander Chin; and No. 6,
Carroll vs. Cooper.
Trinity is led by first-year head coach Russell McMindes, a
former Tiger standout. He was voted the Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Coach of the Year, leading
the Tigers to a 15th SCAC Championship. The Tigers beat
DePauw 5-3 in last month's tourney at North Little Rock,
Ark., and gained the NCAA automatic bid.
The Tigers are playing in their 17th NCAA Tournament,
and the first since 2008. Coach Butch Newman, now Trinity's
Director of Tennis, guided the Tigers to 16 straight NCAA
Tournaments. Trinity's men and women captured the NCAA
Championships in 2000.
TRINITY 5, CARLETON 0
Doubles
1. Bobby Cocanougher/Cory
Kowal, Trinity, def. Dan Vollmann/Winston Park 9-8 (6)
2. Erick DelaFuente/Max Frey,
Trinity, def. Peter Dunn/Paul Cooper 9-8 (5)
3. Ben Carroll/Don Murray,
Trinity, def. Austin Jiang/Jon Aranda 8-4
Singles
2. Cocanougher, Trinity, def. Park 6-1, 6-1
4. Kowal, Trinity, def. Vollman 6-1, 6-4 (clinch match)
1. Frey, Trinity, vs. Dunn, did not finish
3. DelaFuente, Trinity, vs. Jiang, did not finish (6-2,
4-3)
5. Murray, Trinity, vs. Alexander Chin, did not finish
(4-6, 3-1)
6. Carroll, Trinity, vs. Cooper, did not finish (7-5, 1-0)
