Men's Tennis

April 17, 2008

Tigers Move to Top Spot in National Poll

Trinity, led by head coach Butch Newman, has not held the top slot since the Tigers captured the NCAA Championship in 2000.

The Tigers (14-5) were previously ranked No. 3 by the ITA poll.

Individually, a number of Tiger singles and doubles players are ranked in the West Region.

Senior Oliver Gaines of Austin, Texas (Walter Johnson High School; Bethesda, Md.), is ranked No. 1 in regional singles and senior James Furr of Tulsa, Okla. (Bishop Kelley), is sixth.

Gaines and senior Ryan DeSantis of Kilgore, Texas (Trinity School of Texas, Longview), are No. 3 in regional doubles. First-year players Bobby Cocanougher of Southlake, Texas (Carroll), and Cory Kowal of Austin (Anderson) are fifth in the region. Furr and senior David Tran of Houston (Cypress Falls) are No. 11 in the West Region.

The Tiger women (9-7), who also won the NCAA title in 2000, remained at No. 18 nationally. Women’s regional individual rankings will be announced by the ITA.

Trinity’s teams close out their regular-season home schedules this weekend at Delavan Tennis Stadium. The Tigers open the matches with Southwestern University at 3 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, Trinity hosts Colorado College at 9 a.m. and Austin College at 2 p.m.

Both Tiger teams will compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championships April 25-27 at DePauw University at Greencastle, Ind. The conference champions will receive automatic bids to the NCAA postseason tournament.