San Antonio, TX - The 14th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team fell 5-2 to 9th-ranked Swarthmore College Phoenix's on Tuesday afternoon at the Butch Newman Tennis Center, as the Phoenix claimed four of six singles matches after Trinity secured the early doubles point.
Trinity opened the match with strong doubles play to take the early advantage. The #1 pairing of Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / West) and Jared Perry (Tucson, Ariz. / Catalina Foothills) were first off the courts, delivering a commanding 6-1 victory. Swarthmore answered at the #2 position, where Chen and Fente defeated Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) and Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) 6-4 to even doubles play.
The deciding match came at #3, where the senior duo of Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) battled through a tight contest against Lindstrom and Zhang. The Tiger pair edged out a 7-6 (3) victory to secure the doubles point and give Trinity a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Swarthmore quickly shifted momentum once singles play began. The first result came at #1, where 6th-ranked Melnikov defeated 16th-ranked Kersten 6-3, 6-2 to level the match. Moments later, the Pheonix took their first lead of the afternoon as 25th-ranked Lindstrom earned a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over 20th-ranked Perry at #2.
Trinity pulled a point back at #5, where Kaczmarczyk followed up on yesterday's excellent display with another steady performance, defeating Suresh 6-4, 6-4 to even the score at 2-2.
The Pheonix regained the lead at #6 as Kamath was outlasted by Sadikov in a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-1, 3-6. Swarthmore then clinched the match at #4, as 30th-ranked Ryan Warren (Keller, Texas / Connection Academy) fell 7-6 (6), 4-6, 2-6.
The final match concluded at #3, as Dhanani was defeated by Galov in a tightly contested contest, 7-6 (5), 7-5, sealing the 5-2 result for Swarthmore.
Despite the loss, the Tigers showed resilience throughout the afternoon, highlighted by their strong doubles performance and multiple tightly contested singles matches against another top-10 opponent.
Up Next
The No. 14 Tigers will continue their spring break home stand tomorrow, as they take on 3rd-ranked Case Western Reserve University at the Butch Newman Tennis Center at 11:00 a.m.
