Two weekends ago, sophomore singles player Paxton Deuel and doubles team of junior Brandon Thompson and sophomore Eliot Guin attended the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships in Fort Meyers, Fla. The Trinity players qualified for the national event after winning their respective finals of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships held at Trinity last month.

The Trinity doubles duo lost in the first round 5-7, 6-3, 10-2 to the Whitman doubles team of Andrew La Cava and James Rivers.

“The matches went well. We went in hoping we could make a deep run, but we ended up losing to the doubles team who made it to the finals last year and did so again this year. We were actually ahead this match, as we were up a set and a break, but we ended up losing in the third set tie breaker,” Thompson said.

Deuel, the No. 4 seed, won his opening match, defeating Whitman’s La Cava 6-2, 6-3. He then lost to Carnegie Mellon’s Abhishek Alla 7-5, 6-3. Alla ultimately took first in the tournament. Deuel competed in the consolation semifinals against No. 1 seed Eric Halpern of Emory and won 7-5, 6-3. Deuel ultimately placed fifth in the tournament after defeating Luke Trinka of Bowdoin 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the consolation finals.

“In both events, our players really did play and compete at a high level.  The positive we always take away is, we could have been better, but we also know we are capable of playing at the highest level.  It just makes those guys much hungrier during the off-season to come backw even stronger in the spring,” said head coach Russell McMindes.

The Tigers are now in off-season with the season starting again soon after winter break. The 2014 SCAC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will be hosted at Trinity University from April 25-27. The team’s ultimate goal is to reach the 2014 NCAA Division III National Championships which will take place from May 19-24 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. The Tigers regular season schedule has yet to be announced.