St. Peter, Minn.- The 11th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team falls agonizingly short in a 4-3 loss in the consolation bracket of the ITA Indoor National Championships against ninth-ranked Swarthmore College (PA) on Saturday.

The Tigers got off to a great start in the match, claiming the doubles point with a fiercely contested 2-1 win. It initially looked to be heading in the same direction as yesterday's doubles action, as the #1 duo of Rocco Mendez  (Las Vegas, Nevada / Odyssey Charter School) and Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / Plano West) fought a hard battle but fell just short losing 6-4. The score was quickly evened out as the powerful #3 partnership of Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colorado / Regis Jesuit) and Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) produced a decisive 6-3 win. It was then left up to the #2 duo of Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Eric Liao (Taipei, Taiwan / Boca Prep) to claim the important doubles point. After powering into a 5-1 lead, things took a nervy turn as the Swarthmore duo brought the score back to 5-4. With the important 10th game at stake, there was no doubt which way this match was swinging as Dhanani's serve powered the duo to a 6-4 win, snatching the point for the Tigers. 

The singles matches swung back and forth all afternoon. Jared Perry (Tucson, Arizona / Catalina Foothills) opened up the play at #1 but fell just short losing his match 6-3 and 6-2. Ryan Warren (Keller, Texas / Connection Academy) at #2 then regained the lead for Trinity as he comfortably won his match 6-2 and 6-1. Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) at #3 ran his opponent right to the very end in both sets but lost 6-3 and 6-4, equalizing the match for Swarthmore at 2-2. The next to finish was Kersten who battled hard and defeated his opponent in straight sets winning 6-2 and 6-3. That left only Mendez at #4 and Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Oregon / Lake Oswego) at #5. Whittington finished first but after winning his first set 6-3, he lost the next two sets 6-3 and 7-5, leaving the match in the balance in a 3-3 tie. Mendez battled hard for three sets, winning the first 6-4, and taking both the 2nd and 3rd sets to a tiebreaker. Unfortunately he fell just short in both losing 7-6 in both sets to give the overall win to Swarthmore in heartbreaking fashion.

Up Next

The Tigers will play in the 7th/8th place match against hosting Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) on Sunday, February 23rd, at 11:00 a.m.