San Antonio - Trinity sophomore Liza Southwick and first-year player Marie Lutz open competition  in the first round of the 16-draw NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Doubles Championship at Mason, Ohio on Thursday.

Southwick and Lutz meet the second-seeded team of Patricia Kirkland and Sonja Meighan of Washington and Lee (VA) University at 3:00 p.m. ET at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday, with the semifinals and championship match taking place on Saturday.

Last fall, Southwick and Lutz captured the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Doubles Championship, played at the Butch Newman Tennis Center on the Trinity campus. The Tiger duo advanced to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships at Sumter, South Carolina, where they finished in fifth place. Southwick and Lutz completed the dual-match season with a 10-10 doubles record.  

The Tigers won a fourth consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship - the 19th overall - and qualified for the NCAA Playoffs. Trinity defeated the University of Texas-Tyler in the opening round at Claremont, California, and then lost to the host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the second. The Tigers, led by first-year Head Coach Gretchen Rush, completed the campaign with an 11-9 overall record, and were 10-3 against Division III teams.