2008 Woodie Awards
Tennis breaks Top 3
Tigers play well against top opponents, earn No. 3 rank, keep eyes on final prize
Jonny Wiener
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Sports
Two out of three ain't bad.
After a weekend of going toe to toe with the country's top-ranked Division III tennis teams, the now No. 3 ranked tennis Trinity Tigers just might be humming that tune around campus this week.
The Tigers played three consecutive days against top 10 teams, securing big victories over No. 4 Williams College (Mass.) and No.8 Claremont McKenna College (Calif.) by identical 6-3 scores before falling to No. 2 Washington University 5-4.
Trinity's successful showings against the Top 10 vaulted it to No.3 in the national rankings and pushed its record to 12-4 on the season. The Tigers have lost just two matches to Division III opponents.
"This last stretch encouraged the balls out of us, actually," said No.6 singles player Crisanto Ramirez, junior. "We were playing three schools ranked in the Top 10, and we played really well against every single one of them. Even in the loss to Washington, which was a very close match; it could have gone either way, and the morale was just as high."
But despite the age-old adage, the Tigers were admittedly disappointed not to win all three contests-two out of three may not be bad, but this year's ultra-deep and talented Trinity squad has its sights set a little bit higher.
Like, for instance, on a National Championship run.
"I think winning a National Championship is a very definite possibility," Ramirez said. "It's something that this year we'll have a very good chance of doing, especially with the way we've all been working together." Ramirez won matches against Claremont (6-4, 6-4) and Washington (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).
The Tigers displayed in full force just how real those prospects are with their scintillating play last weekend.
Against No.4 Williams in the first of their three Top 10 showdowns, the Tigers took a clean sweep of the doubles department (3-0), but lost three consecutive singles matches to even the score at 3-3.
Then the Tigers' singles got clutch. First Year Bobby Coconaugher broke the deadlock with a 6-4, 6-3 victory playing in the No. 5 slot, and Trinity's No. 1 and No. 2 singles, Oliver Gaines, senior, and James Furr, senior, both won highly-contested matches shortly afterwards.
After a weekend of going toe to toe with the country's top-ranked Division III tennis teams, the now No. 3 ranked tennis Trinity Tigers just might be humming that tune around campus this week.
The Tigers played three consecutive days against top 10 teams, securing big victories over No. 4 Williams College (Mass.) and No.8 Claremont McKenna College (Calif.) by identical 6-3 scores before falling to No. 2 Washington University 5-4.
Trinity's successful showings against the Top 10 vaulted it to No.3 in the national rankings and pushed its record to 12-4 on the season. The Tigers have lost just two matches to Division III opponents.
"This last stretch encouraged the balls out of us, actually," said No.6 singles player Crisanto Ramirez, junior. "We were playing three schools ranked in the Top 10, and we played really well against every single one of them. Even in the loss to Washington, which was a very close match; it could have gone either way, and the morale was just as high."
But despite the age-old adage, the Tigers were admittedly disappointed not to win all three contests-two out of three may not be bad, but this year's ultra-deep and talented Trinity squad has its sights set a little bit higher.
Like, for instance, on a National Championship run.
"I think winning a National Championship is a very definite possibility," Ramirez said. "It's something that this year we'll have a very good chance of doing, especially with the way we've all been working together." Ramirez won matches against Claremont (6-4, 6-4) and Washington (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).
The Tigers displayed in full force just how real those prospects are with their scintillating play last weekend.
Against No.4 Williams in the first of their three Top 10 showdowns, the Tigers took a clean sweep of the doubles department (3-0), but lost three consecutive singles matches to even the score at 3-3.
Then the Tigers' singles got clutch. First Year Bobby Coconaugher broke the deadlock with a 6-4, 6-3 victory playing in the No. 5 slot, and Trinity's No. 1 and No. 2 singles, Oliver Gaines, senior, and James Furr, senior, both won highly-contested matches shortly afterwards.
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