San Antonio – The Trinity University
Tigers captured the “A” Singles and Doubles titles
Sunday at the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III
Men's Southwest Regional Championships.
Senior Max Frey (Tulsa, Oka./Holland Hall) earned singles and
doubles bids to the ITA National Small College Championships Oct.
13-16 at Mobile, Ala. Frey beat sophomore teammate Greg Haugen
(Austin, Texas/Bowie) 6-3, 7-5 in the singles championship. Joining
Frey in Mobile in doubles will be junior Eric DelaFuente (El Paso,
Texas/Coronado), as the duo beat Haugen and first-year player Aaron
Skinner (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) 6-0, 6-2.
The singles and doubles semifinals and finals, held at the Al G.
Hill Jr. Tennis Stadium, consisted entirely of Trinity players.
Last month, the Tiger women had similar success at Tyler, Texas.
First-year player Mackenzie Knoop (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque
Academy) won the Regional singles championship, and the doubles
title with newcomer Stephanie Williamson (Katy, Texas/Taylor).
It will mark the second straight time the Tiger men will have
singles and doubles representatives at the national event.
“I think the quality of our tennis is extremely
high,” said Russell McMindes, who coaches both the Tiger men
and women. “It's a good testament to the quality of our
program, but also to the fact that the depth of our program is
growing.”
In 2010, recent graduates Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal, the
Regional doubles champions, went on to win the Division III
national honor at Mobile. Cocanougher was also the Regional singles
champ.
Frey, who won the Regional singles title as a first-year player
in 2008, was this year's top seed. He first beat first-year
teammate Aaron Skinner (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge), the No. 13
seed, 6-3, 6-1 in Sunday's semifinals. Frey then utilized a
blistering serve to defeat Haugen in the final. Haugen, the
No. 5 seed, played a strong baseline game, with solid ground
strokes, to eliminate the second-seeded DelaFuente 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in
the semifinals.
The first set of the 90-minute championship singles championship
match was highlighted by the determination of Frey. Down 15-40 on
his serve, Frey battled back to hold service and go up 3-2 on a
passing shot. The two players alternately held serve, but Haugen
was broken as Frey led 5-3. The first set went to Frey as he
punched out a forehand volley.
Frey led 3-2 in the second set, when he experienced his only
service break of the match,. After the score was tied at 5-5,
Haugen held the advantage twice in the 11th game. Frey broke serve
with a volley to lead 6-5. The match was headed to a third set,
with Haugen leading 40-15 on Frey's serve in the 12th game.
But Frey won the next four points, punctuated by a critical
backhand volley, to emerge as the champion.
“I've been working on my serve a lot,” said
Frey, playing in his fourth straight Regional final. “I had
to do more against Greg than anyone else I played. I had to wait
until he gave me an opening, and he didn't give me an opening
for a while.
The top-seeded team of Frey and DelaFuente beat the sixth-seeded
duo of Haugen and Skinner in the one-hour doubles championship
match. Haugen and Skinner finished a semifinal match on Sunday,
beating the fourth seeded Trinity duo of senior Ben Carroll
(Evansville, Ind./Reitz Memorial) and first-year Jordan Mayer (San
Antonio/Churchill) 8-6. On Saturday, Haugen and Skinner held a 7-5
lead over Carroll and Mayer, when the match was halted because of
darkness.
The doubles championship match was characterized by the
once-again strong serve of Frey, and the effective net play and
returns of DelaFuente. Haugen and Skinner were broken three times
in the opening set. The second stanza was a bit tighter, as Skinner
and Haugen closed to 2-3 on their serve. DelaFuente fired up his
serve, as he and his partner led 4-2. Haugen was broken, and then
Frey served out the match.
“Being aggressive is really important, and it's easy
when you have a guy serving a million miles an hour behind
you,” said DelaFuente, the 2009 Regional singles
champion. “I feel like we are both pretty versatile
players. When something is not going right, we change up the game
plan and try to do it a different way.”
Frey and DelaFuente lost in last year's Regional final to
Cocanougher and Kowal. This marks the third season the Tiger duo
has played together.
“We do a good job with the combination of our
strengths,” Frey added. “It's very effective on
the doubles court. The more we play together, we start to figure
out what fits where in our games.”
The “B” Singles title went to Tiger first-year
player Pablo Diaz Boom (Cancun, Mexico/Instituto Cesare), who beat
first-year teammate Eric Schluter (San Antonio/Clark) 6-4, 6-2.
Schluter and Boom later teamed up to win “B” Doubles,
beating Texas-Tyler's Doug Kierstead and Ethan LaPlante
8-2.
The Butch Newman Tennis Center and the Al G. Hill Jr. Tennis
Stadium will be dedicated Oct. 26.
