San Antonio - The 11th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team swept aside both McMurry University (TX) and East Texas Baptist University by identical 7-0 scores on a successful day of tennis at the Butch Newman Tennis Center.

The Tigers (7-2) continued their fine home form, handing the McMurry Warhawks (0-4) their 4th loss of the season, and then later, East Texas Baptist University's (3-1) 1st loss of the season. 
Against McMurry, play opened up in the doubles with Connor Whittington (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Lake Oswego) and Ethan Ruppanner (Amarillo, Texas / Tascosa) at #3, who wiped the floor with their opponents, winning 6-0. Next to finish was Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) at #2, who followed up their teammates in making light work of their match, winning 6-1. Last to finish were Rocco Mendez (Las Vegas, Nev. / Odyssey Charter School) and Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / West) at #1 who claimed the doubles sweep with a comfortable 6-3 win. 

Dhanani at #1 opened the scoring in the singles with a quick 6-2, 6-0 win to extend the Tiger lead to 2-0. Ivan Nikolovski (Alpine, N.J. / Dwight Global) at #4 kept the momentum going with a resounding 6-0, 6-2 win. Then to clinch the match, the powerful Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) at #3 won 6-1, 6-1. Next to finish was the dynamic Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) at #2, who won 6-2, 6-1. Hai Vo (Binh Duong, Vietnam / Harvest Christian Academy (Texas)) played at #6, only dropping one game, and comfortably winning 6-0, 6-1. Playing for the clean sweep, and to round off the morning was Ruppanner at #5, who made light work of his opponent winning 6-1, 6-1. 

Later in the afternoon against the ETBU Tigers, Trinity completed another clean sweep of victories in the doubles. This time finishing first to keep up their excellent doubles form, were Mendez and Kersten at #1, who won 6-2. Next to finish was #3, which featured Kamath and a new partner Jared Perry (Tucson, Ariz. / Catalina Foothills), powering to a 6-4 victory and clinching the well-deserved doubles point. The sweep was looking comfortable for the Tigers until the #2 partnership of Flores and Kaczmarczyk was taken to a nerve-wracking tiebreaker, eventually coming out on top, winning 7-6 (8-6) in dramatic fashion. 

Singles began with two matches producing identical results and extending the Tiger lead to 3-0. Mendez at #1 and Kamath at #2 were the first to finish, winning their matches in resolute style 6-2, 6-1. Things then started to heat up as ETBU showed some fight in the final four matches, taking the Tigers to three sets in all remaining matches. Next to finish was the powerful Dhanani at #3 who won 6-3 and 6-0 in the first and third sets, to clinch the fourth point and the tie for the Tigers. Whittington at #4 was also taken to a third set as he won 7-5 in the first, and lost the second 6-4, but then showed his steely character to command the third set and win 6-1. The penultimate match of the day was a thrilling encounter. Flores at #6 lost the first set 6-2, but produced a stunning comeback, winning the second set 6-3 and then clinching the match in the super tiebreaker 1-0 (10-7). The final match of the day was another back-and-forth encounter, as Kaczmarczyk at #5 won the first set 7-5, lost the second 6-3, and then won in the super tiebreak 1-0 (10-7), to claim the sweep for the Tigers.

Up Next
The 11th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team face #20 Carnegie Mellon University (PA) on Wednesday, March 5th at 5:00 p.m.