San Antonio – The third-seeded Trinity Tigers women open play Friday at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at North Little Rock, Ark.
 
Trinity (7-7), ranked No. 25 in the NCAA Division III, meets the winner of No. 6 Austin College and seventh-seeded Millsaps at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals at Burns Park Tennis Center.
 
Defending champion DePauw (ranked 17th nationally) is the No. 1 seed, and Sewanee: The University of the South (ranked No. 19) is seeded second
 
The tournament continues through Sunday, with the championship match slated for 8 a.m. At stake is an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.
 
Trinity, led by third-year head Coach Ryan Takao, has won five of its last six matches.
 
The Tigers took third place at last year's SCAC Championship, with an 8-1 victory over Rhodes.
 
Junior Katie Griffith (Spokane, Wash. /Ferris) went on to represent Trinity at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships, competing in the 32-draw singles event.
 
Trinity has captured 15 SCAC Championships, the last in 2006. Led by former Coach Butch Newman, now Trinity's director of tennis, the Tigers also competed in 15 NCAA tournaments. The Tigers won the 2000 NCAA Division III National Championship.