Pepper Pike, Ohio - The fifth-seeded Trinity men's tennis team won a pair of matches on Saturday to finish fifth at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III National Men's Team Indoor Championship.
The Tigers defeated top-seeded Washington University-St. Louis 7-2 in the morning consolation round, and then secured fifth place with a 6-3 victory over No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer (CA) Colleges in the evening at the Cleveland Racquet Club. The Tigers, ranked eighth nationally, now stand at 5-4 overall, and are 4-1 against Division III teams. Washington is ranked third by the ITA, while Pomona-Pitzer is No. 4.
The Tigers won all three doubles matches in Saturday's opener with Washington to take control of the match early. Though Trinity came up short in the first completed singles match, Paxton Deuel took the top line match to make it 4-1 Tigers. Chas Mayer then clinched the victory on the No. 5 line.
"We rebounded nicely from the first day," said Head Coach Russell McMindes. "We came out with much more energy and played much more efficiently, commanded the point, and took over with doubles. After that we rolled into the singles and just needed to play well. It was a nice win, especially with their being the No. 1 seed."
Trinity had a battle going against Pomona-Pitzer, as the Sagehens won two of three tightly played doubles matches. Eliot Guin and Wilson Lambeth earned a point for the Tigers by winning No. 3 doubles 9-8. Adam Krull and Tyer were edged 9-7 in the No. 1 match, and then Deuel and Clayton Niess lost 8-6 on the second line.
Despite trailing in the match, the Tigers were able to hang tough in singles by capturing five of six matches. Deuel started things off by tying the match from his top line position. Krull matched Deuel with his straight-sets win at line two, but Pomona answered with a win at slot four to tie things up 3-3.
At that point, Trinity took over. Mayer took a three-set victory from line five to put the team on the verge, then Lambeth brought it home with a three-set victory from the sixth position.
"In the second match, we played highly competitive doubles, tight all the way," concluded Coach McMindes. "We were fortunate to get No. 3 doubles to give us a little momentum, and stifle a little of theirs, to keep us alive going into the singles. Our singles guys just all competed really well. We got five of the six singles, and they competed nicely. Paxton and Adam went undefeated on the weekend at one and two. That's huge, to be able to get your top two guys, with the matches we played, to go undefeated. That was special."
The Tigers lost 6-3 to the fourth-seeded University of Chicago in Friday's opening round. Chicago is ranked sixth by the ITA.
Up next for the Tigers will be two home matches on Sunday, February 28. Trinity meets DII member St. Mary's (TX) University at 10:00 a.m., and Laredo (TX) Community College, of the National Junior College Athletic Association, at 4:00 p.m.
