Tennis takes both SCAC titles
By: Alex Maurer
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Sports
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.
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.
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