SAN ANTONIO – A highly-anticipated West Region matchup lived up to its billing Tuesday night at the Butch Newman Tennis Center as No. 11 Trinity University Men's Tennis took down No. 13 California Institute of Technology, 6-3, after an extended rain delay and hotly-contested battles throughout the lineup.
 
First-year Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American [ESP]) continued his strong play in higher-line matchups as he rallied for a 7-5 third-set victory in line three to clinch the war of attrition after falling behind early on in the set.
 
The match sat at 4-3 Trinity for nearly an hour after the hour-long rain delay toward the end of the singles session as Candelas and sophomore Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) jockeyed for position to clinch. While Candelas and Caltech's Andrew Zabelo stayed within a game of each other for much of their third frame, Whittington overcame a 5-2 deficit to Ishaan Kannan in the line-two matchup of the respective No. 22 and No. 14 players in the region, rallying unanswered to his 7-5 tally just minutes after Candelas's clinch.
 
Senior Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) maintained his national standing as the No. 30 player in NCAA III after defeating No. 48 Kyle McCandless in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, just after junior Rob Chang (Aeia, Hawaii / 'Iolani School) collected his fourth line 6-4, 6-1. Soon after, the rain came to pause the match.
 
The third-line duo of senior Cal Hunter (Lafayette, Calif. / Campolindo) and first-year Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) got the ball rolling for Trinity with an 8-4 victory while Nguyen and sophomore partner Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep [FL]) gave the Tigers a 2-1 advantage after the early session through an 8-6 tiebreaker.
 
No. 11 Trinity Men's Tennis awaits yet another nationally ranked battle Sunday morning as the Tigers host No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis at the Butch Newman Tennis Center, slated for a 9:00 a.m. first serve.