SAN ANTONIO - No. 5 Trinity University Men's Tennis fell, 7-2, to No. 2 University of Chicago Friday night at the Newman Tennis Center.
The Tigers (11-5) saw a ferocious comeback in line-one doubles that stepped in the way of the sweep in favor of the Maroons. Christian Settles (Claremont, Calif. / Claremont) and Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) stared down a 6-1 deficit in first-flight play but rallied with the support of a strong Tiger crowd on court three en route to seven straight games, and an 8-6 victory.
Trinity squeezed as much momentum as it possibly could from the doubles finale as Nguyen led the charge with a first win. Tiebreaker defeats for Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Visconti) and Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep) in their respective first frames marked the turn of the tides in singles action.
Despite a 7-5 setback in his first set in line four, Settles roared back into the picture with a quickwork 6-2 second set, though while the senior worked his way into the fold, the Maroons had already ran into the points necessary to clinch. Settles's rally continued into the post-clinch superbreaker where he picked up a 10-4 victory, and Trinity's second point.
With the hard-fought loss to No. 2 Chicago Friday night, the Tigers relinquished a 28-match home winning streak that began with an 8-1 victory over 29th-ranked Lewis & Clark College (OR) on February 9, 2019.
No. 5 Trinity Men's Tennis concludes its week of strong competition Saturday at Noon against No. 22 University of Mary Washington.
