San Antonio - The Tiger men's tennis team had several players advance in the opening round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Regional singles and doubles championships on Friday.

Seven Trinity Tigers “A” Singles players advanced Friday in the opening day of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Region Championships, held on Trinity's courts.

Top-seeded Aaron Skinner advanced to the third round by first defeating Ryan Beene of Texas Lutheran 6-0, 6-0, and Nicolas Snovely of Southwestern 6-0, 6-2. Skinner is the defending ITA regional and national champion. Last year, Skinner won the regional crown, and then went on to take the ITA National Small College Championship at Mobile, Alabama. Skinner also took home the region doubles championship with Jordan Mayer.

This year's main-draw singles and doubles winners will compete in the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships Oct. 10-13 at Fort Myers, Fla.

Second-seeded Greg Haugen of Trinity took out Nick Berardi of Hendrix 6-0, 6-0, and then beat Sam May of Hardin-Simmons 6-3, 6-1. Paxton Deuel, the No. 5 seed, blanked Ian McVinney of Hendrix 6-0, 6-0,.and beat UT-Tyler's Edward Timponi 6-1, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Charlie Curtis was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Howard Payne's Will Thomas. Curtis then shut out Bob Berardi of Hendrix 6-0, 6-0.

Also advancing to the third round were Connor Dunn, Chas Mayer, and Pablo Diaz Boom.

The second-seeded “A” doubles team of Haugen and Dunn advanced to the quarterfinals, as did the No. 3 duo of Skinner and Nicolas Moreno.  The seventh-seeded tandem of Deuel and Clayton Niess are in the quarters, as are Curtis and Chas Mayer, along with Eliot Guin and Brandon Thompson.

There are also draws in “B” Singles and Doubles, along with consolation play in both singles events.

The action begins Saturday at 8 a.m., and wraps up on Sunday.