Box Score CLAREMONT, Calif. – No. 8 Trinity University Men's Tennis ended their season on Saturday afternoon as they were defeated by No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the third round of the NCAA III Championship tournament.
The Tigers got off to a promising start in doubles as junior duo
Rob Chang (Aiea, Hawaii / 'Iolani School) and
Dalton Lock (Humble, Texas / Kingwood) scored an 8-4 win for the first point of the match at line three. The second-line pairing of senior
Alessio Azzalini (Rome, Italy / Istituto Paritario G. Visconti) and first-year
Rafa Candelas Ruiz (Zacatecas, Mexico / American School [ESP]) tacked on another victory with a mark of 8-3, adding to their momentum.
The tides began to turn when senior
Hao Nguyen (Sugar Land, Texas / Strake Jesuit) and sophomore
Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep [FL]) fell 8-3 in line one to the No. 6 ranked duo in the nation – Trinity graduate
Christian Settles ('22) and Matthew Robinson.
Claremont carried their momentum into singles play, starting with a speedy straight-set victory over Candelas Ruiz in line five. Liao was the next Tiger to fall, posting a 6-2, 6-2 loss from line three.
Trinity continued to battle as Nguyen fought back from a major first-set deficit but fell just short with a 7-5, 6-3 loss to put the Stags one point from winning. Azzalini dropped his first set 6-3 but gave it everything he had, forcing a tiebreaker in the second set. However, Claremont ended up clinching the match with their 7-6 (7-5) second set victory.
Sophomore
Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) was the only Tiger to post a winning score in his first set, beating Settles 7-5, but the match went unfinished when the Stags clinched.
Up Next: NCAA III Singles Championships
Nguyen has been selected to compete in the NCAA III Men's Singles Championships, held May 18-22 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
