SAN ANTONIO – No. 11 Trinity University Men's Tennis returns to the friendly surroundings of the Butch Newman Tennis Center Thursday morning to host No. 6 University of Chicago—the reigning NCAA III champions—then visit NCAA I University of the Incarnate Word Saturday morning.
 
The Tigers (6-3) split their two matchups in the rain-altered 2023 Stag-Hen Invitational last weekend as they fell, 5-2, to now-No. 14 Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) Thursday before dropping No. 18 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (CA), 4-3, on its home courts.
 
Trinity is 5-1 against NCAA III competition this spring, including a 7-2 output at then-No. 38 Hardin-Simmons University and will look to continue the trend as the bout with the sixth-ranked Maroons opens five straight NCAA III matchups against nationally ranked programs.
 
SCAC Player of the Week: Eric Liao, Singles (March 14)
Sophomore Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep [FL]) was the recipient of the latest weekly offering from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference this week as the league's singles player of the week.
 
Liao posted a 2-0 record in individual play in last weekend's Stag-Hen Invitational competition, storming back from a 1-6 first-set setback to win the fourth line against the No. 14 Gusties and then a straight-sets victory in line three action to clinch the match, 4-0 at the time, against the No. 18 Sagehens.
 
NCAA III Rankings: New Team Ranks, Player Rankings Coming March 24
Trinity moved up two spots in the first midseason team rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Friday from its No. 13 preseason starting spot released January 17.
 
With player rankings dormant from the end-of-fall listing until March 24, seniors Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Visconti) and Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) will remain the No. 13 and No. 30 singles players in NCAA III through this weekend's action. Azzalini and first-year partner Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American [ESP]) will stand at No. 23 nationally in doubles as well.
 
Preview: The Champs Return to San Antonio, The Tigers Hitchhike to UIW
On the Maroons: Chicago brings its own pair of singles players and a doubles team ranked in NCAA III by the ITA, along with an 8-2 record in dual matches to start the 2023 campaign. No. 11 Emil Grantcharov and No. 22 Derek Hsieh lead the singles portion of the lineup for the Maroons with the No. 22 unit of Andrei Leonov and Sachin Das leading off the doubles lineup.
 
The Maroons opened the spring with seven straight victories including a shutout victory over NCAA II Lewis University, a 7-2 victory over then-No. 12 Denison University (OH) and a 5-3 mark over Gustavus on its home indoor courts to open the ITA Indoor National Championship.
 
The remainder of the even provided seasoning for the Chicago squad with losses to then-No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis, 6-3, and then-No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (CA), 5-4. The Maroons rebounded the following weekend with a 7-2 defeat of No. 20 Kenyon College (OH), 7-2, on March 4—the last time out for the reigning champs.
 
The series between Trinity and Chicago is split 2-2 since the start of the 2011 season, with each of the first three meetings between 2011-2016 were played in championship events at neutral sites. Last year's visit to San Antonio, a 7-2 affair for the Maroons, was the first time either program had hosted the matchup.
 
On the Cardinals: Incarnate Word is off to a strong start for the 2023 season, as its three losses through 12 matches have come in contests against Power-5 programs away from home: at No. 43 Baylor University (Jan. 15), at No. 36 University of Oklahoma (Feb. 5) and against No. 72 University of Utah (March 4; Tulsa, Okla.).
 
Trinity has claimed both the last matchup (March 27, 2021; W, 4-3) and the last visit to UIW (February 18, 2017; W, 4-0) for two of the last three meetings in the series.
 
Looking Ahead: Rapid-Fire NCAA III Tests on the Horizon
No. 11 Trinity Men's Tennis will face five more NCAA III programs currently nationally-ranked before the end of the 2023 regular season:

• vs. No. 20 Colby College (ME); March 24
• vs. No. 37 Pacific University (OR); March 26
• vs. No. 13 California Institute of Technology; March 28
• vs. No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis; April 2
• at No. 15 Southwestern University; April 14

 
The 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship will be hosted by the 15^th -ranked Pirates April 28-30 in Georgetown, Texas.