San Antonio -- The Trinity Tigers men, ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Division III, split itheir home matches Saturday at Delavan Tennis Stadium.
Trinity (5-5) first beat Division III opponent Texas-Dallas 8-1, and was edged 5-4 by junior college powerhouse Laredo Community College.
In singles, DelaFuente captured the No. 1 match, beating Sebastian Leitz 7-5, 6-7 (6), 12-10. Kowal won No. 2 singles, Greg Haugen was a winner at No. 3 singles, Julio Benavides captured No. 4, and Carroll took No. 6.
Murray lost a hard-fought No. 5 singles match to Antonio Lopez de Alda 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.
Trinity battled it out with Laredo Community College, ranked fourth in junior college standings
The Tigers held a 4-3 lead, when LCC's Jair Assuncao outlasted Frey 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. The Palominos then clinched the match at No. 3 singles, as Antoine Rafaelli beat DelaFuente 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5.
Trinity won two of three doubles to start the match, with the teams of Cocanougher/Kowal and Frey/DelaFuente taking the top two matches. Carroll and Murray lost a tightly played 9-8 (10) No. 3 doubles match to Rafaelli and Rafael Bugiga.
Cocanougher won No. 2 singles in straight sets, and Kowal won the No. 4 match, beating Rafael Coutinho 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Haugen, a first-year player, lost the first match of his early career, falling 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to Guilherme Narducci at No. 5 singles. Benavides lost in two sets at No. 6 singles.
Trinity will compete March 11-12 at the Stag-Hen Classic at Claremont, Calif.
The Tigers return home March 25 to host third-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
