Claremont, California - The 24th-ranked Trinity women's tennis team was eliminated in the NCAA Division III Championship tournament West Region second round with a 5-0 loss to #4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday.

Trinity completed its dual match season with a 15-10 record, while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps improved to 20-4. The Tigers opened their fifth consecutive NCAA appearance Friday by defeating #33 University of Texas-Tyler 5-1.

"We started really well," said Head Coach Gretchen Rush. "Our #2 doubles got ahead, and our #3 doubles got ahead. Cheyenne and Caroline were actually ahead, but just didn't get it. Liza and Marie went down pretty quickly, but they fought to the end. In singles, a couple of us started off well, but we ran out of time. They were a little better than us. We are a much stronger team than we were last year. We had a lot of great efforts from our team, which we are really proud of."

Liza Southwick and Marie Lutz lost in the #1 doubles position, as did Andrea De Leon and Blaire Porter on the third line. Cheyenne Duncan and Caroline Kutach fought hard and had a chance to put the Tigers on the board, but were edged 9-7 in #2 doubles. Duncan lost in #5 singles, and the match was clinched by the Athenas as Kutach fell in the second matchup.

Last season, Trinity traveled to Claremont, and defeated UT-Tyler in the first round. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps then eliminated the Tigers in the second round.

The tennis season is not over for the Tigers, however. Southwick and Lutz have received a bid to compete for the second straight year at the NCAA Doubles Championship. The Trinity tandem will be part of the 16-draw field May 26-28 at Kalamazoo, Michigan.

"We are hoping for a good draw, and we will just go from there," said Coach Rush about her doubles team. "We will take a little break, and get back on the practice court."