ST. LOUIS – The ninth-ranked Tiger men's tennis team rallied for a thrilling 4-3 win over seventh-ranked Washington University-St. Louis on Saturday afternoon.
Trinity improved to 10-8 this season with the win, while the Bears dropped to 9-7. The Tigers won for just the third time in the last nine meetings between the two schools, which snaps a three-match losing streak that goes back to the last win in 2016.
The Tigers were swept in the three doubles matches, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead to start off the day. The doubles teams of
Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) and
Jared Perry (Tucson, Ariz. / Catalina Foothills) at line one, along with
Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and
Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep) at line two, both lost 7-5.
Rob Chang (Aiea, Hawaii / 'Iolani School) and
Dalton Locke (Humble, Texas / Kingwood) suffered a 6-4 loss at line three to open doubles play.
WashU was on the brink of clinching early in singles, following wins by the home team on line four and line one to take a 3-0 lead. Trinity then turned the tied with an epic comeback, winning the last four singles matches to take the win. Liao got the Tigers on the board with his 7-5, 6-3 win at #6 singles, then
Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) followed suit with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at line two that trimmed the lead to 3-2.
Chang was tripped up 6-3 in his opening set at #3 singles, while Flores swept through his opener with a 6-0 win. Both Tigers went to a tiebreaker in the second. Flores was beaten 7-6 (7-2) to force a third set, but Chang also rallied for a 7-6 (7-5) win in the second to keep the Bears from clinching. Flores turned the momentum around with a 6-2 win in the third that tied the match 3-3. Chang kept fighting in his third set as well, battling to a 7-5 win that put the finishing touches on the come-from-behind victory for Trinity.
Up Next
Trinity returns home in two weeks and will be home for the final three matches of the regular season. The Tigers begin the homestand by hosting #43 University of California-Santa Cruz on Saturday, April 13, at 4:30 p.m.
