Claremont, California - The Trinity men's tennis team lost a pair of matches at the Stag-Hen Invitational on Saturday, finishing in fourth place overall.
The fifth-ranked Tigers began with a 6-3 loss to defending NCAA Division III champion and second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the semifinals. Later in the day, Trinity was edged 5-4 by 11th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the Third Place Match.
"It was just a tough day," admitted Head Coach Russell McMindes. "The format of this tournament makes it pretty grueling, to play so many high-level teams so quickly. The bottom line is we just got beat. We had great starts in doubles. We lost a critical doubles match against Pomona that would have given us a 3-0 lead. We had a lead in line two and couldn't quite get through it. Both of those teams were just a little bit better than us today. We got a little dinged up going into the second match. We got a little unlucky in the first one. Tyer got an injury, so we had to pull him out of singles. It was just a tough day at the office. Most of the guys competed pretty well. There is still a lot of season ahead of us."
Trinity now stands at 9-7 overall, and is 7-3 against NCAA Division III opponents. The Tigers defeated Kenyon (OH) College Friday in the event hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer.
In today's finale, the Tigers opened by taking two of three doubles matches, and going ahead 2-1 in the match against Pomona. Adam Krull and Matt Tyer scored a win at No. 1 doubles, while the line three win by Chas Mayer and Wilson Lambeth put Trinity up 2-0 at the time. Paxton Deuel and Clayton Niess were edged 9-8 at line two, as Pomona was able to get on the board.
Deuel was down at No. 2 singles and had to retire, then Niess dropped his No. 5 singles match, and Pomona took its first lead. Tilden Oliver then fell at line six to put the Sagehens up 4-2. Krull came through with a top-line win, followed by Mayer's three-set victory at No. 4 to tie the match at 4-4. Pomona was able to clinch, though, as Lambeth lost 6-4 in the third set of his No. 3 singles matchup.
Earlier in the day, the Tigers also had a 2-1 lead after doubles over Claremont. Krull and Tyer captured the No. 1 match, and Deuel and Niess won No. 2. Lambeth and Mayer lost the third doubles line.
Trinity's only win in singles came at the No. 2 pairing as Krull first took a tiebreaker, and won the second set 6-3. Deuel lost a three-setter at No. 1 singles, while Lambeth and Mayer lost in straight sets at the Nos. 3 and 4 matches. Niess came up short at No. 5 singles, and Eliot Guin lost on the sixth line.
Trinity continues its California trip Monday by taking on 23rd-ranked Wesleyan (CT) University at Claremont McKenna College at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
