Tennis takes both SCAC titles

The Trinity Tigers fell prey to DePauw over the weekend during a Tiger on Tiger battle. After some tough matches, both the men's and women's tennis teams came out victorious with two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tennis Championship titles. With the wins, both teams received automatic qualification to the NCAA Div. III National Tennis Championships.The surprise of the day came from the men, who pulled an upset against the No. 1 nationally ranked Div. III mens tennis team.

"It was pretty unbelievable," said junior Bryan Heck. "Trinity has always been a huge rival and to win it at home with all the fans and your parents around there was an incredible feeling."

Heck, who finished the weekend 6-0 for singles and doubles, was an integral part in the Tigers success. That success started after easily taking down Colorado College 9-0 en route to the semifinals. The men then took on Sewanee University of the South and again had success, beating them 8-1. With the two solid wins, the team was on fire. Heck said he had never seen his team more focused to face Trinity for the final match.

"We were on a collision course to see Trinity in the finals, and made sure of that," Heck said.

During their final face-off, the men got off to a rocky start as Trinity led 2-1 after doubles. Despite DePauw's continued losses at first and second singles, Heck picked it up for the Tigers and was the first singles player in the lineup to overthrow the trinity tigers. The Tigers were behind 4-2 and needed to win the last 3 singles matches to take the win.

"Slowly but surely you could see our team coming back," Heck said. "There was just something about winning on your own courts and sending Trinity back to the Indy airport without the trophy in hand."

The pressure was on. In the next two singles matches, sophomore Scott Sandager and senior Scott Sauer won their matches 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-0 Leaving it up to sophomore Evan Hunter in the final match. If he lost, the season, would be over.

"You have no idea how nerve racking it is to be the only one left on the courts with that many people watching with your season on the line," Heck said.

Hunter stepped up to the challenge and won in two sets, winning 6-3 and 7-6. The entire team rushed the court. With the 5-4 win, the Tigers took the SCAC championship title for the second year in a row.

"Evan Hunter really showed a lot of poise and pulled through when the pressure was on," Heck said.

There was much success on the womens side as well. The 4th-ranked Tigers improved their overall season to 21-4 with their weekend wins. Leading the effort was doubles duo senior Erin Andrade and sophomore Kayla Smith. With the partner win at first doubles, the women swept the rest of the doubles matches and took the one, two, three, five and six singles.

The women's team also defended their territory, postponing a Trinity conference comeback with a final match score of 8-1, while 18th ranked Trinity fell to 14-4 on the season. Freshman Janelle Arita said the reasons the women fared so well was their ability to focus on the next match, the mental preparation, and the fact they did not get too ahead of themselves. She said in all three weekend matches, the team pounced during doubles, taking a 3-0 lead and carrying momentum through into singles play.

"We played each match as if the score was tied 4-4," Arita said. "This win just shows us that we definitely have the chance to compete with anyone and beat anyone in the nation."

The men and women return to the courts this weekend as the Regional of the 27th Annual NCAA Div. III Women's Tennis Championships will be hosted by Gustavus Adophus College, May 2-4 in Saint Peter, Minn. The men's Regional of the 33rd Annual NCAA Div. III Men's Tennis Championships will be hosted by Bates College, May 2-4 in Lewiston, Maine.