No. 9 Tiger Men's Tennis will take their first trip out of state to take on a pair of top-10 opponents this weekend.
 
The Tigers (8-7) are fresh out a spring break where they played seven matches in eleven days. During that stretch, Trinity went 5-2 overall and picked up a huge win over then No. 1 Emory. Of the five ranked teams that played against the Tigers, four of them fell to the power rackets of the Tigers. The Tigers kicked it up a notch in singles play, going 21-9 in the wins across the week.
 
SCAC Men's Tennis Player of the Week - Eric Liao
 
In back-to-back weeks, junior Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep (Florida)) has been selected as the SCAC Men's Tennis Player of the Week. 
 
From the SCAC Press Release:
 
Liao went 2-0 in singles play this week as the 14th-ranked Tiger men's tennis team went 2-1 overall, picking up wins over top-ranked Emory University and 16th-ranked Amherst College. After Emory tied the match with Trinity 2-2 early in singles play, Liao put the Tigers in front for good with his 6-4, 6-1 win at #6 singles. The next day against Amherst, Liao scored a 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) win at line six to put the finishing touches on the 6-3 win for the Tigers.
 
SCAC Men's Tennis Doubles Team of the Week - Ethan Flores and Jared Perry
 
For the first time this season, the duo of Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) and Jared Perry (Tucson, Arizona / Catalina Foothills) have collected the SCAC Men's Tennis Doubles Team of the Week weekly honors. 
 
From the SCAC Press Release:
 
Flores, a first-year from Houston, Texas, and Perry, a first-year from Tucson, Ariz., went undefeated this week as 14th-ranked Trinity went 2-1 with wins over top-ranked Emory University and 16th-ranked Amherst College. The Tiger duo won all three matches this weekend at line two, finishing with 8-6 scores in each victory.
 
Flores and Perry secured Trinity's first point in the 6-3 win over Emory, then clinched a doubles sweep with their win over Amherst the next day. The two first-years then came back later in the day to defeat the line two doubles team from Our Lady of the Lake University, snagging the only point of the match for Trinity.
 
Preview - Tigers In St. Louis
 
Trinity will play their first match in Missouri against Skidmore College on Thursday, March 28th at 10:00 AM. Then, the Tigers will play against No. 7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on March 29th at 3:00 PM. TU will round out their trip against host school Washington University-St. Louis, who is ranked No. 2 in the country, on March 30th at 10:00 AM. 
 
On the Skidmore Thoroughbreds: Skidmore is just 1-3 so far this season. The Thoroughbreds started their season with a narrow 5-4 loss to St. Lawrence for their first match of the season. However, their following matches were blowout losses to nationally-ranked Amherst and Middlebury College. Skidmore did not pick up their first win until March 23rd when they defeated Brandeis University by a score of 6-3. Some of the scores do not tell the whole story, Skidmore has played most of their matches close and they have unfortunately not swung in their favor. This will be the first time that the two schools have played since 2012. With that, the Tigers are 1-1 all time against Skidmore. 
 
On the No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps: The Stags are 13-3 this season. Besides dropping their opening match to NCAA II Point Loma, CMS has only lost to top-ranked Emory and No. 4 Case Western during the NCAA III Indoor Championships. After that, Claremont has now won nine matches in a row, including a sweep against SCAC rival Colorado College. Although the Stags do not have a nationally ranked doubles team, they have two singles players who are ranked 9th and 23rd overall. The Tigers and Stags met earlier this year in round one of the NCAA III Indoor Championships with CMS getting the better of Trinity, 5-2. Trinity is 0-15 against the Stags since 2010.
 
On the No. 7 WashU Bears: The Bears are 8-5 as the 2024 season rolls on. WashU has also had its fair share of tough competition. Washington has played seven nationally-ranked opponents this season and is 3-3 against them. Another thing to note is that the Bears made it to the championship round of the NCAA III Indoor Championships this season, losing 0-4 to Emory in the final round. WashU will enter Missouri on a two-game losing streak after falling to Sewanee and Bowdoin. Since 2011, the Tigers are 2-6 against WashU and have dropped the last three matches.
 
Looking Ahead
 
The Tigers will take over a week off and then play against UC-Santa Cruz on April 13th.