SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University Women's Tennis welcomes NCAA II Dallas Baptist University Friday afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. first serve as the sixth of seven straight matches at home after opening Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play last weekend with shutout victories Saturday over Texas Lutheran University and University of St. Thomas
The Tigers (5-2, 2-0 SCAC) remain undefeated against NCAA III opponents in 2023 as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) 16th-ranked squad in the division, allowing just one point through four in-division matchups.
SCAC Players of the Week: Tigers maintain unrivaled start in doubles
Trinity swept this week's SCAC honors for the first time this season as junior
Cate Cushing (Colleyville, Texas / Heritage) and first-year
Trinity Levy (Camarillo, Calif. / Weil Tennis Academy) secured the Team of the Week honor for the Tigers' third straight week.
Sophomore
Ruth Hill (Abilene, Texas / Abilene) became Trinity's first Singles Player of the Week for 2023 after spending the previous two weeks atop the doubles throne with her partner, sophomore
Olivia Kim (Phoenix, Ariz. / Desert Mountain).
NCAA III Rankings: New ITA Rankings on the Horizon
The ITA will announce its first set of regular-season team rankings for NCAA III on March 10, with updated singles and doubles individual rankings the following week.
The Tigers were ranked No. 16 in the preseason powered by the duos of Cushing, Levy and Hill, Kim as the No. 16 and No. 25 pairs, respectively. Levy and Hill finished the fall slate ranked 28th and 45th in singles.
Preview: Dallas Baptist (Friday, 4:00 p.m.)
In last weekend's conference matches, Levy became the first Tiger with double-digit singles victories for 2022-23 including the fall tournament schedule at 10-4 including a 4-1 mark in dual matches that features a straight-sets victory over NCAA I opponent Amelie Montalvo of University of the Incarnate Word (Feb. 12).
Both nationally-ranked doubles teams have already eclipsed double-digit wins as well for 2022-23. Levy and Cushing sit at 13-5 after their run as the ITA Southwest Regional Champions with Hill and Kim not far behind at 11-3; both units have 4-0 records in dual matches against NCAA III programs.
On the Lady Patriots: Dallas Baptist has opened the 2023 campaign undefeated through six including two wins over common opponents with the Tigers—Hardin-Simmons University (W, 7-0; Feb. 17) and Our Lady of the Lake University (W, 4-2; Feb. 18).
The Lady Patriots have a trio of regionally ranked singles players, led by NCAA II's No. 14 player Angela Charles-Alfred. Charles-Alfred is a graduate transfer from NAIA Xavier University of Louisiana, where she was named first-team All-America in the NAIA ranks and Red River Conference Player of the Year in 2021.
Madison Stafford and Sofia Teran rank 12th and 19th in the South Central region for the ITA while Stafford and partner Jenna Payne checked in at No. 3 in their region.
Last season's exhibition visit to San Antonio for Dallas Baptist ended with an 8-1 mark in favor of Trinity. Hill defeated Teran, 6-3, 6-2, in line-three singles last season while Kim and Hill notched an 8-5 victory in second-line doubles over Stafford and then-partner Leslie Omerie, who has since graduated from the Lady Patriots' program.
Looking Ahead: Final Match in Homestand, NCAA III Contenders Await
Reigning NCAA III runner-up No. 2 University of Chicago concludes the current seven-match homestand for No. 16 Trinity Women's Tennis Wednesday, March 15 and begins a stretch of eight nationally ranked NCAA III programs in a nine-match stretch to mid-April.
The Tigers head to the East Coast March 18-19 to battle No. 14 University of Mary Washington (VA) and No. 21 Washington & Lee (VA), then return to San Antonio for No. 25 Johns Hopkins University (MD) March 23, No. 22 Colby College (ME) March 24, No. 24 University of Texas-Dallas April 2.
Road matchups at No. 20 Southwestern University April 7 and at No. 18 Washington University in St. Louis April 14 conclude the NCAA III gauntlet two weeks ahead of the 2023 SCAC Championship tournament in Georgetown, Texas April 28-30.
