SAN ANTONIO – The eighth-ranked Trinity men's tennis team has wrapped up regular season play in 2023 and will now compete for its 27th Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship this weekend in Georgetown, Texas.

The Tigers finished off the regular season with a 9-0 sweep at home against Schreiner University on Saturday, April 22. Trinity is 13-6 heading into the weekend, which includes a 4-1 record in conference play this year. Trinity swept Texas Lutheran University, University of St. Thomas, and Austin College in addition to the shutout against Schreiner. The Tigers were edged 5-4 by No. 18 Southwestern University earlier this month.

Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American School (Spain)) leads Trinity in dual match singles wins this year, while Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) has won seven straight singles contests to improve to 10-2 this season. Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep (Fla.)) is just behind his Tiger teammates with nine singles victories so far this season.

Nguyen and Liao have also teamed up for an 11-4 record in doubles play to lead the Tigers this year, while Dalton Locke (Humble, Texas / Kingwood) and Rob Chang (Aiea, Hawaii / 'Iolani School) are just two wins behind their teammates with a 9-4 doubles record.

ITA Rankings: New rankings coming soon
The latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings have Trinity in the top 10 at the No. 8 position, as well as the second-ranked team in the West Region. Individually, Trinity has three singles players ranked in the top 20 in the West, as well as the fifth-ranked doubles team in the region in Nguyen and Liao. Nguyen is also the top-ranked singles player for the Tigers at seventh, while teammate Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Paritario G. Visconti) is one spot behind him at No. 8 in the region. Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) holds a No. 20 singles ranking in the region as well. The ITA is scheduled to release its next set of rankings on Friday, April 28.

Preview: SCAC Championships
Despite having won 12 consecutive SCAC Championships, Trinity will enter this weekend's competition as the second seed. That comes after Southwestern edged Trinity in the regular season meeting, which was the first loss in the series for the Tigers since 2018 – also a 5-4 decision on the road. Southwestern is 16-5 this season and is also ranked 18th in the NCAA III poll and fourth in the region. Those two teams have played in the SCAC Tournament Final for seven straight seasons and 2023 is shaping up to be the eighth.

Colorado College is ranked 15th in the West and enters the SCAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The CC Tigers will take on sixth-seed Texas Lutheran in the opening round. No. 4 Schreiner will face No. 5 St. Thomas in the first round as well, while Trinity squares off with No. 7 Austin College, and Southwestern opens with No. 8 University of Dallas.

Trinity has won a total of 26 SCAC Championships, which is the most titles for any team in the SCAC – in any sport. The Tigers have had 22 total SCAC Players of the Year – including each of the last three: Cameron Krimbill (2021 and 2022) and Wilson Lambeth (2019) (the tournament and awards for 2020 were cancelled). Azzalini was the 2021 SCAC Newcomer of the Year and is one of just five Trinity players to have received that honor.

First-year Bernardo Clemente of Southwestern is the only other ranked singles player in the tournament with a No. 18 singles ranking, while sophomore Oscar Roy and first-year Ashton Ellis are ranked seventh in doubles.

The weekend schedule was adjusted this week due to expected weather this weekend. The Colorado College/Texas Lutheran match will start things off on Thursday, April 27, at 1:00 p.m. Trinity and Austin College will play at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, while Schreiner and St. Thomas will get going at the same time on Friday. Southwestern and Dallas are scheduled for a Noon start to finish off the action on Friday.

The SCAC Tournament Semifinals are at 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 29. The Third Place Match will start at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, followed by the SCAC Championship Match at Noon.

Looking Ahead: NCAA Playoffs
The winner of this weekend's SCAC Tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs, which begin the following weekend (May 5-7). The NCAA will announce the full tournament field on Monday, May 1. Individual singles and doubles participants in the NCAA Championships will be announced on May 3. The NCAA Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals will take place May 13-17 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The Singles and Doubles Championships will be held May 18-22 at the same site.