SAN ANTONIO – No. 14 Trinity University Women's Tennis hosts No. 37 University of Texas-Dallas for its sixth nationally ranked opponent of the 2023 campaign Sunday afternoon (3:00 p.m.), following the season's third Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest against Austin College Sunday morning (10:00 a.m.).
The Tigers (9-4, 2-0 SCAC) have collected victories in three of their last four matchups, all against top-25 teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings: at No. 21 University of Mary Washington (VA), 6-3; No. 22 Washington & Lee University (VA), 6-3; v. No. 24 Colby College (ME), 7-2.
Trinity was also within range of knocking off the nation's top-ranked University of Chicago to open the recent stretch of ranked competition on March 15, ultimately falling to the 2022 NCAA III Championship runners-up, 5-4.
NCAA III Rankings: One Step at a Time
Another ITA rankings release, another one-spot improvement for the Tigers, now up to No. 14 in NCAA III per the association's announcement Monday. Trinity opened the spring as the preseason No. 16 squad in January, up to No. 15 on March 10.
While just one spot in the order, Trinity's movement this week came as a swap with West Region foe No. 15 University of Redlands (CA), leaving the Tigers behind only the Sixth Street rivals of No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (CA) and No. 5 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (CA) in the region.
Trinity has three opponents remaining on the 2023 slate in this week's release: No. 37 UT-Dallas (Sun.), at No. 23 Southwestern University (April 7) and at No. 19 Washington University in St. Louis (April 14).
New regional player rankings were announced as well on Monday. Sophomore
Ruth Hill (Abilene, Texas / Abilene) is 10
th in the West in singles, followed by doubles partner
Olivia Kim (Phoenix, Ariz. / Desert Mountain) and first-year
Trinity Levy (Camarillo, Calif. / Weil Tennis Academy) at No. 20 and No. 21 in the region, respectively.
Hill and Kim checked in as the region's No. 4 doubles unit ahead of Levy and junior
Cate Cushing (Colleyville, Texas / Heritage) at No. 8.
SCAC Players of the Week (March 28): Trinity Posts Second Sweep of the Season
Junior
Ellie Hughes (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) and sophomore
Brooke Belitz (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame) repeated as the SCAC Doubles Team of the Week per Tuesday's announcement from the league office, joined in the weekly honor roll by Hill for her second selection as the Singles Player of the Week for 2023.
Hughes and Belitz held their title for the second consecutive week after notching a pair of third-line 8-1 victories in the matches against No. 26 Johns Hopkins and No. 24 Colby, tallying the first point for the Tigers in both contests. The duo stands at 7-0 so far this season.
Hill returned to the top of the weekly charts by posting a 2-0 mark in line-one action in last week's matchups that featured a three-set victory over the No. 27 singles player in NCAA III-Johns Hopkins's Jay Xiao—along with a match-clinching straight-sets output against the 26
th-ranked Mules.
Preview: A Sunday Double, Austin (10:00 a.m.) and UT-Dallas (3:00 p.m.)
On the 'Roos: Austin College will host Whitworth University (WA) this evening and pay a visit to NAIA Our Lady of the Lake University Friday ahead of Sunday's SCAC contest. Ahead of those contests, the Kangaroos are 2-7 this season, 1-2 in conference play.
All seven losses on the season for Austin have come in shutouts including a visit to No. 23 Southwestern University on February 10 and March 4's bout at home with Texas Lutheran University. The 'Roos rebounded from each of those defeats for their two victories this season: at Howard Payne University, 5-4, and v. University of Dallas, 8-1.
The two programs have met eight times since 2010 though Sunday's encounter will be just the second since 2018; Trinity has amassed an 8-0 record during that time allowing just four total points, all in 8-1 victories.
On the Comets: UT-Dallas will make a quick stop to Georgetown, Texas Saturday afternoon to face the 23
rd-ranked Pirates on its way to San Antonio this weekend. Ahead of the weekend, the Comets sit at 8-4 and 3-0 in American Southwest Conference action.
UT-Dallas was undefeated against NCAA III opponents through its first seven matchups until falling, 5-4, to visiting California Lutheran University—ranked No. 36 by the ITA this week—on March 20.
The Comets have sought out tough competition this season outside of NCAA III matchups with a visit to NCAA I University of Texas-Arlington [L, 7-0] along with hosting a pair of NCAA II programs in Harding University (AR) [L, 5-2] and St. Mary's University [L, 1-6], the latter of which checked in at No. 17 in the ITA's NCAA II rankings on Wednesday.
From 2011 to 2021, Trinity won eight straight dual matches over UT-Dallas though last year's matchup in Richardson led to a 5-4 mark for the host Comets. Sunday's matchup will be the first in San Antonio since 2018 after three straight in the Metroplex.
UT-Dallas found some success in San Antonio last fall at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships as senior Suzuka Nishino—the sixth-ranked player in the West this week—came away as the region's singles champion over Levy, ahead of the all-Trinity doubles finale that saw the Tiger first-year become the first rookie All-American for the Trinity program since 2011.
Levy was in just her ninth collegiate match after blazing through the bracket, including a second-round 6-4, 6-4 output over another Comet, sophomore Elyssa Ducret—who has competed exclusively in the fourth line for UT-Dallas this spring.
Also in the ITA regional rankings this week as the No. 10 doubles team in the West was the junior duo of Saumya Vedula and Rebecca Jackson, who holds a 10-2 record as the line-one mainstay for the Comets, though have won all but one of their nine NCAA III matchups 8-4 or better.
Looking Ahead: Battle of SCAC Heavyweights, Visit to an "Arch"-Rival
No. 14 Trinity Women's Tennis heads back out on the road for the first of three straight away from the Alamo City April 7 to take on No. 23 Southwestern, who is also charged with host responsibilities for the 2023 SCAC Championship April 28-30.
The Tigers then make a return trip to visit No. 19 Washington University in St. Louis (April 14) after the Bears ventured to the
Butch Newman Tennis Center nearly one year ago to the date—a 7-2 Trinity victory. While in St. Louis, WashU will also host a neutral matchup between Trinity and Sweet Briar College (VA) on April 15.
