by Sam Demmon, Sports Information Student Intern
SAN ANTONIO - Trinity University Men's Tennis will head up to Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas to compete in the 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Regional Championships this weekend. The tournament features NCAA III teams, all from the state of Texas, with 171 players being entered in the competition. Doubles action will kick off this year's event Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. with singles competition to begin Friday at 10 a.m. following the second round of doubles to start the morning.
Trinity will send all 13 men to the championship bracket for singles, as well as six doubles teams. Of the Tiger returners, two finished the 2022 spring campaign ranked regionally by the ITA in singles: seniors Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) and Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Paritario G. Visconti) finished 12th and 16th, respectively, in the West.
Nguyen was also ranked No. 1 in the West and No. 6 nationally for doubles with his former partner and fellow All-American Christian Settles '22. Together, Nguyen and Settles were crowned as the ITA Regional Doubles Champions, as well as NCAA III Doubles Quarterfinalists.
Trinity senior Cameron Goldstein (Dallas, Texas / Episcopal) and his partner Wilson Hamilton, now Trinity's assistant men's tennis coach, were ranked No. 12 regionally by the ITA to complete their 2022 spring campaign.
Trinity is one of two teams in this weekend's tournament that finished the 2022 spring campaign ranked nationally by the ITA. The Tigers finished No. 13 while Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Southwestern University earned the No. 19 spot - the third and sixth ranked teams in the region, respectively. The Tigers are only returning two of their six regionally-ranked players, while the Pirates young roster has no returners that were ranked in the spring.
Concordia University, ranked 14th in the West last season, will return both members of their doubles team ranked fifth in the region, while Hardin-Simmons and LeTourneau University will both return one-half of their seventh and eight-ranked doubles teams, respectively.
Fall Season Refresh: St. Mary's Invitational (Sept. 9-10) and Trinity Invitational (Sept. 16-17)
To start the season, Trinity Men's Tennis competed in the annual St. Mary's Invitational and put up an overall record of 27-3 in singles and 6-3 in doubles with competition from multiple divisions of collegiate athletics.
Seven Tigers won their respective flights out of the 12 total in the Rattlers' home tournament, including Nguyen, Azzalini, and Goldstein. First-years Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American School), Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Conor Kaczmarcyzk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) and junior Dalton Locke (Humble, Texas / Kingwood) also captured all three victories in each of their brackets.
Trinity Men's Tennis also hosted the Trinity Invitational where they accumulated a record of 11-9 in singles and 4-3 in doubles where they played against teams ranging from NCAA I to NAIA.
At the Trinity Invitational, the Tigers only had one singles player and one doubles team conquer their respective flight. Junior Rob Chang (Aiea, Hawaii / 'Iolani School) went 3-0 on the day for singles, and joined Locke to go 3-0 in the doubles competition as well.
