Trinity Men's Tennis Defeats DePauw to Win SCAC Title

North Little Rock, Ark. – It’s been a while, but the Trinity Tigers men’s tennis team is once again the champion of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The top-seeded Tigers beat the No. 2 DePauw Tigers 5-3 Sunday in the championship match at Burns Park Tennis Center.

Trinity (16-9), ranked 14th in the NCAA Division III, last won the title in 2006, with a 4-1 victory over DePauw. Since that time, DePauw, ranked 16th nationally, had beaten the Tigers three straight years in the final, including a 6-3 win in 2009. The Trinity Tigers played in their 19th consecutive SCAC Championship match, and won their 15th conference crown.

Sunday’s Trinity victory  - the 12th in a row - also means the Tigers have qualified for the NCAA regional tournament, to be held May 14-16, at a site to be determined. A total of 42 squads will compete in regionals  throughout the nation, leading to the NCAA Team Championship Tournament May 25-27 at Oberlin, Ohio. The singles and doubles tournaments are slated for May 28-30. Trinity is ranked No. 7 in the West Region, and is 12-4 against Division III opponents. Bids for the team tournament will be announced May 10, and individuals May 12.

The Tigers  began Sunday’s match by winning all three doubles. Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal, ranked third in the region, won No. 1 doubles with an 8-6 victory over Scott Sandager and Will Gates. Max Frey and Erick DelaFuente captured No. 2 doubles, with an 8-4 over Hunter Schouweiler and Jonathan Batuello. No. 3 doubles went to Ben Carroll and Don Murray, 8-1 winners over Andrew Kahn and Michael Rardon.

DePauw won three of the five completed singles matches, but Trinity had already built up its lead.

Frey, ranked fourth in the region, won No. 1 singles 6-4, 7-6 over Sandager. The clincher for Trinity was at No. 4 singles, as Kowal outfought Noah Swiler 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

DePauw’s Rardon beat Cocanougher 6-2, 7-6 at No. 2 singles, and Gates was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Murray at No. 5. Kahn beat Trinity’s Andrew Hoing 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6 singles.

The No. 3 singles match between DelaFuente and Schouweiler did not finish.

Trinity is led by first-year head coach Russell McMindes, a former Tiger standout. He took over for longtime coach Butch Newman, now Trinity’s director of tennis. Coach Newman led the Tiger men and women to the 2000 NCAA Championships.