Men's Tennis

April 3, 2009

Tigers Defeat McMurry on Friday Afternoon

Trinity, ranked No. 3 in the West Region, improved to 8-7 after the win over No. 15 McMurry. The Tigers, who captured their third straight match, will host UT-Tyler, ranked No. 12 nationally, at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Varsity courts.

The Tigers led 2-1 after doubles. Sophomores Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal, ranked third in the West Region, took No. 1 doubles 8-5 over Will Davis and Bryan Rainwater. McMurry won No. 2 doubles as Chris Bumann and Tony Williams beat Tiger sophomores Max Frey and Don Murray 8-4. Tiger sophomore Andrew Hoing and junior John Runge won No. 3 doubles 8-3 over Daniel Olivares and Brad Armour.

Trinity built up a sizeable lead in singles, winning the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 matches. Cocanougher, ranked No. 14 in the West region, won No. 2 singles, beating Rainwater 6-2, 6-3, and Runge defeated Olivares 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3. The clincher for the Tigers was at No. 1 singles as Frey, ranked second in the region, beat 13^th-ranked Bumann 6-4, 7-5. Kowal gave Trinity a 6-1 lead after beating Armour 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.

But Nos. 4 and 6 singles, the last two matches on the court, proved to be the most tightly played before the enthusiastic spectators at Varsity Tennis Stadium. McMurry’s Williams won No. 4 singles in a 4-6, 7-6 (12-10), 7-5 match with Hoing. The Tigers Murray won the opening set of No. 6 singles 3-6, and McMurry’s Brent Abilez evened the match, taking the second set 6-4. Abilez won the tiebreak, played instead of a third set, 10-7 as the dual match concluded.