St. Peter, Minn. - The 11th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team lost a 6-1 decision to second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (CA) in the first round of the ITA Indoor National Championships on Friday.
 
The Tigers opened the match by falling just short of claiming the doubles point with a 2-1 loss. Things got off in the right direction for the Tigers as they claimed a victory at #1 doubles, where the dynamic partnership of Rocco Mendez (Las Vegas, Nevada / Odyssey Charter School) and Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / Plano West), fiercely fought back from 0-3 down to win 6-4. Next to finish was the #2 partnership of Jared Perry (Tucson, Arizona / Catalina Foothills) and Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs), who fought a hard and close match but fell 7-5. The doubles point was up in the air with the #3 duo of Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep) last on the court. The thrilling match swung back and forth, but the duo eventually lost the match 7-6 in a closely contested tiebreaker that ended 7-5. 

Perry dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision at #1 to open singles play, then Kamath fell 6-0, 6-2 at #3. Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Oregon / Lake Oswego) lost 6-1, 6-2 in the overall clincher, then Mendez fell 6-1, 7-5 at line four singles. The closest singles matches of the afternoon came at #2 and #6. After an excellent doubles showing, Kersten came in at #6 singles, but unfortunately fell 8-6 to a tiebreak in the first set, losing the set 7-6, and then subsequently lost 7-5 in the second set. Ryan Warren (Keller, Texas / Connection Academy) fiercely battled through two close sets to win Trinity's only point of the afternoon at line two, winning 7-5, 6-3.

Up Next

The Tigers will play in the consolations against Swarthmore College (PA) on Saturday, February 22nd at 3:30 p.m.