Trinity women’s tennis opened weekend play at home against the University of California, Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (UCSC) as scheduled on Feb. 14, delivering a 7-0 sweep. A rain delay pushed the Trinity men’s tennis team matches to Feb. 15. The Tigers men’s team earned their first win of the spring season with a 7-0 win over the Concordia University Tornados.
Women’s tennis set the tone early in doubles play against UCSC, winning the first two matches 6-3 and 6-1. Junior Rosabella Andrade and senior Trinity Levy played the third match, winning the first set 5-3 as the match went unfinished, foregoing the second set and allowing the Tigers to cap off doubles with an advantage against the Banana Slugs.
In singles play, first-year Astrid Kerrman’s match against UCSC’s Adeline Lai was the first to finish. Kerrman won both sets 6-0, 6-1 and helped secure Trinity’s victory over UC Santa Cruz.
The men’s game against Concordia was one of two postponed from Feb. 14 due to inclement weather. Both the men’s and women’s games that were originally against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor have yet to receive a new time.
Head men’s tennis coach Russell McMindes said that the hard part about rain delays is staying ready. He told his team to continue preparing for the game as if it were played as scheduled.
“Anytime you add weather elements, it always makes the conditions a little different, a little more humidity and possibly some wind,” McMindes said. “It’s there for both teams, and it’s just how you handle all that stuff and stay focused on the job at hand.”
Sophomore Roshin Kamath decisively won against Concordia’s Jack Rectenwald in two sets, 6-0, 6-1. Kamath also aided the Tigers’ win in doubles play alongside junior Ethan Flores, winning their set in a tiebreaker.
“No matter what we’re doing, we should always be ready to go on match day,” Kamath said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re in the weight room or on the track two days before. The standard is to be ready on match day.”
Trinity had a 2-0 advantage over Concordia in doubles as Kamath and Flores’s match went tightly contested. Kamath and Flores defeated Concordia’s Aaron Griffin and Kade Talbot with a tiebreaker, winning 7-6 (7-3). Going into singles, the men’s team maintained control with decisive wins. Junior Kishan Kersten’s match against Concordia’s Steven Scholz ended last, skating by with a sweep, winning both sets 7-6, 7-5 to cap off the overall shutout.
Looking ahead, Kamath said that he’s excited to play in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) and NCAA tournaments. According to him, the NCAA tournament is the team’s end goal.
“The national tournament, that’s kind of what we live for,” Kamath said. “Of course, our SA conference tournament as well is going to be exciting because we just moved into the new conference, so we’ll be playing new teams.”
Similarly, McMindes said that he wants Trinity to win the SAA championship in the tennis program’s first year in the conference. Winning the title would automatically qualify the Tigers for the NCAA tournament.
“We focus on one match at a time,” McMindes said. “But, you know, we would love to continue to win our conference as we have in the SCAC. We’re leaving the SCAC and joining the SAA. The expectation doesn’t change. We want to still maintain the crown that gives us that berth in NCAAs.”
The women’s team will host Our Lady of the Lake University on Feb. 20, and the men’s team will travel to play University of Redlands in Redlands, CA on Feb. 21. Both teams’ matches against Mary Hardin-Baylor are pending rescheduling.
