SAN ANTONIO – No. 11 Trinity University Men's Tennis suffered just its second setback of eight straight NCAA III matchups with nationally ranked teams Sunday morning, falling to No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis, 7-2, at the
Butch Newman Tennis Center, though it rebounded with its third shutout victory in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play against Austin College in the afternoon.
The Tigers (11-5, 3-0 SCAC) opened their day behind the Bears (13-4), 2-0, before finding a notable victory for senior
Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) and sophomore
Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep [FL]), 8-6, over the team of Abhi Ramireddy and Phuc Nuynh—the No. 5 doubles team in NCAA III per the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
After falling in four consecutive straight-sets tallies in the third through sixth lines, clinching the match for WashU, Nguyen and fellow senior
Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Visconti)—who was playing his first match since March 9—found themselves in third-set superbreakers against separated members of the Bears' ranked doubles squad.
Nguyen—the No. 30 player in the country—defeated Huynh—the No. 32 player in the country—on a 10-8 tiebreaker score in line one though the same score fell in the opposite direction for the Italian as No. 13 Azzalini lost to No. 5 Ramireddy in line two.
A fresh Tiger lineup—aside from a second appearance on the day for senior
Cal Hunter (Lafayette, Calif. / Campolindo) hosted the Kangaroos (2-11, 1-3 SCAC) at the Al G. Hill, Jr. Tennis Stadium in the afternoon, collecting a third straight shutout victory in as many SCAC matches for 2023.
The second line duo of seniors
Allen Song (Portland, Ore. / Lincoln) and
Austin Lee (Frisco, Texas / Frisco) collected a shutout victory to complete the doubles sweep while Hunter and junior
Dalton Locke (Humble, Texas / Kingwood) each notched a shutout set as the Tigers swept through singles on marks of 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-2 in the second and third lines, respectively.
No. 11 Trinity Men's Tennis faces one more nationally ranked team for the 2023 regular season, visiting No. 19 Southwestern University on April 14. The trip to Georgetown, Texas in two weeks will be a preview for the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship tournament, also to be hosted by the Pirates, April 28-30.
