SAN ANTONIO – The 11th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team picked up a pair of wins on its first day of competition in the spring semester, defeating Lewis & Clark College (OR) and Our Lady of the Lake University (TX) on Saturday at the
Butch Newman Tennis Center.
The Tigers (2-0) handed OLLU a loss in its season opener, while Lewis & Clark fell to 1-1 after opening the year with a win at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) yesterday in Belton, Texas.
Against Lewis & Clark, doubles began with
Ryan Warren (Keller, Texas / Connections Academy) and
Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) earning a 6-2 win at line three, then
Jared Perry (Tucson, Ariz. / Catalina Foothills) and
Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win at line two. The top-line team of
Rocco Mendez (Las Vegas, Nev. / Odyssey Charter School) and
Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / West) clinched a doubles sweep for the Tigers with a 7-6 (7-0) win in a tiebreaker.
Whittington opened up the scoring in singles with a quick 6-0, 6-0 win at line four to make it a 2-0 Trinity lead. Perry kept the momentum going with a 6-4, 6-1 win at line one, while Kamath won by the same score at line three to clinch the match. Warren won 6-4, 6-4 at line two for a 5-0 Trinity lead, then
Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep) won 6-1, 6-1 at line six.
Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) was edged 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 0-1 (6-10) in a three-set battle as Lewis & Clark avoided the sweep.
Later in the afternoon, Trinity and OLLU split the first two doubles matches with Mendez and Kersten winning 6-4 at line one, but Kaczmarczyk and
Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) lost 6-4 at line two to set up a decisive match at line three.
Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Liao clinched the doubles points for the Tigers with a 6-4 win.
Singles began with Kersten giving Trinity a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win at line five, then Whittington won 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) at line four to bring the Tigers to the brink of the win. Mendez was tripped up in a 7-5, 6-3 loss at the third position to make it a 3-1 match. Liao then picked up another line six victory to clinch, rallying to win a three-set thriller 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. Kamath also scored a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6) three-set win at line two, though Perry fell short 6-4, 2-6, 1-6 at line one in the final match of the day.
Up Next
Trinity will travel to Abilene, Texas, next weekend to take on Hardin-Simmons University (TX) at noon on Friday, February 7. Later that evening, the Tigers will also begin play at the ACU Indoors on the campus of Abilene Christian University (TX), taking on Tyler Junior College (TX) at 5:00 p.m. Trinity will face Abilene Christian Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
