SAN ANTONIO – No. 13 Trinity University Men's Tennis will begin Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play Saturday hosting Texas Lutheran University and University of St. Thomas for back-to-back matches.
The Tigers (2-2) posted their first contest with a NCAA III opponent Sunday morning with a 7-2 victory over Concordia University after returning from Friday action in Abilene, Texas against NCAA I and top-flight junior college opponents between Abilene Christian University and Tyler Junior College.
With national rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on hold until mid-March, the Tigers will remain the No. 13 program in NCAA III, with seniors
Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) and
Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Visconti) ranked nationally in singles—No. 30 and No. 13 respectively—and the duo of Azzalini and first-year
Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American [ESP]) ranked No. 23.
No. 13 Trinity Men's Tennis will head back out on the road for its next two dual matches—at NCAA I University of Texas-Arlington (Feb. 25) and No. 38 Hardin-Simmons University (March 4)—along with the annual Stag-Hen Invitational hosted by No. 5 Claremont-Mudd Scripps Colleges (CA) and No. 9 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (CA) March 10-11.
SCAC Doubles Team of the Week: Hao Nguyen and Eric Liao
A new pairing for the Tigers this season, Nguyen and Liao broke through for a 6-3 victory in line two at Abilene Christian Friday, then moved up to line one to collect an 8-6 tiebreak victory against Concordia over a duo that included the ITA's No. 19 singles player.
The selection is Nguyen's 11
th career SCAC Doubles Team of the Week honor, though Tuesday's announcement marked the first time the senior has earned the title with a partner not named
Christian Settles '22. Over three seasons (2020-22), the pairing of Nguyen and Settles posted a 45-11 mark in dual matches.
Preview: Texas Lutheran and St. Thomas
On the Bulldogs: Texas Lutheran has yet to find the win column in 2023 through matches at Our Lady of the Lake University (L, 7-0; Jan. 27), at McMurry University (L, 7-2; Feb. 4), vs. East Texas Baptist (L, 8-1; Feb. 10) and at No. 19 Southwestern University (L, 8-1; Feb. 11).
Brody Smith and Xavier Cristan have each collected two of the Bulldogs' four points in NCAA III matches as both earn straight-sets singles victories at McMurry. Cristan prevented the shutout against ETBU with a sixth-line 10-8 superbreaker victory while Smith and partner Logan Randall earned an 8-4 victory in line-two doubles in TLU's first SCAC match at Southwestern.
Trinity has shut out the Bulldogs in each of the last seven meetings, and 10 of the last 11 since the start of the 2011 season.
On the Celts: While also winless through three matches this season, St. Thomas has started an upward trend taking University Mary Hardin-Baylor to the ropes in a 5-4 road loss February 10, followed by a 6-3 loss at No. 19 Southwestern that saw the Celts take a 2-1 lead out of doubles against the Pirates.
Rodrigo Yoshikata earned this week's SCAC Singles Player of the Week as he posted back-to-back line-one victories at the Crusaders and Pirates last weekend including a notable rebound from a first-set shutout to keep the match alive at Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Trinity has yet to cede a point to the Celts in four matches since they joined the SCAC, including back-to-back 5-0 tallies in the first round of each of the last two conference tournaments.
Looking Ahead: NCAA III Heavyweights Ahead
The March 4 visit to No. 38 Hardin-Simmons will kick off six consecutive NCAA III matchups against programs ranked by the ITA this preseason for No. 13 Trinity Men's Tennis.
Following the second trip to Abilene, the Tigers will return to the
Butch Newman Tennis Center March 16 to host defending NCAA III champion No. 1 University of Chicago, then No. 26 Colby College (March 24), No. 35 Pacific University (March 26), No. 16 California Institute of Technology (March 28) and No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis (April 2).
