Trinity Men's Tennis Takes Fifth Place at ITA Indoor Nationals

St. Peter, Minnesota - With a 6-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges late Saturday night, the Tiger men's tennis team earned fifth place in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Indoor National Championsips.

Trinity improved to 4-3 this season with the win, which was a hard-fought victory that was much closer than the score indicated.

The Tigers took two of the three doubles matches, winning at the first and third positions.  Erick DelaFuente and Max Frey won 8-4 at No. 1, while Ben Carroll and Jacob Straus scored an 8-3 win at No. 3.  Greg Haugen and Jordan Mayer fell in an 8-5 decision at No. 2.

In singles, Pomona took both of the top spots, as Frey (2-6, 1-6) and Straus (3-6, 4-6) lost in straight sets.  The Tigers took the rest of the singles matches, though, including three wins in the third set.  Haugen (6-4, 6-0) was Trinity's only straight-set winner.

DelaFuente and Carroll won 6-3 and 6-4, respectively, in their opening sets.  Carroll then lost 4-6 in the second, before taking a 3-1 win in the third.  DelaFuente got edged 5-7 in his second set, but came out strong in the third, scoring a 6-2 win.

Mayer was easily the closest match of the day, earning a 7-6 win in the opening set.  He took the tiebreaker 7-1, though, and it looked like he had momentum on his side heading into the second set.  Pomona's Frankie Allison battled back with a 6-3 win in the second, though, before Mayer was able to finish off the win with a 7-5 score in the third.

Trinity will host NAIA school Our Lady of the Lake University at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, followed by a 3:00 p.m. match with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.