SAN ANTONIO – The 11th-ranked Trinity men's tennis team closed out its weekend with a 6-3 win over the University of California-Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers improved to 12-6 this season and 12-3 against NCAA III opponents. The Banana Slugs dropped to 4-8 on the year with the loss.

Trinity started off strong with a 2-1 lead after doubles, capped by a thrilling 8-7 (7-5) line one win by Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) and Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep (Fla.)). The doubles partners improve to 11-4 this season overall and 8-2 from the top line position.

The line two doubles team of Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Paritario G. Visconti) and Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American School (Spain)) got the match started with an 8-6 win, before UCSC tied things up by winning 8-5 against the Tiger team of Cal Hunter (Lafayette, Calif. / Campolindo) and Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit).

Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) got the singles scoring started with his straight-set (6-2, 6-0) win at line four to put the Tigers in front 3-1. Azzalini also won 7-5, 6-0 to leave Trinity just one point from the clinch at line two.

The clincher came from Hguyen at line one as he scored a 6-1, 6-2 victory that marked his seventh consecutive win in singles, and improved his line one record to 8-1 this year.
Following the clincher, Liao also won in straight sets at line three, before the Banana Slugs won each of the last two singles matches to account for the final score.

Up Next
Trinity will wrap up its regular season schedule by taking on Schreiner University at home on Saturday, April 22, at 9:00 a.m. The Tiger seniors will be honored on that day as well. Trinity will head to Georgetown, Texas, the following weekend for the SCAC Championships. The Tournament runs from April 28-30 and is hosted by Southwestern University.