ANGOLA, Ind. - In the first ever Trine University Men’s Tennis Invitational, the Thunder team placed second out of four teams with two-day total of 23 points. Grace College took the team title with 30 points, while Capital University was third with 18 and Defiance was fourth with seven points.
The tournament used a round-robin format for doubles matches and six flighted singles pairings.
Trine finished the tournament with a 6-6 record in singles action and 6-3 record in doubles matches. For the singles flighted tournament, the Thunder took home one first and four second place finishes.
Trine freshman Caleb Knust (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) had an outstanding weekend as he capture the No. 1 singles title. In his first match, Knust defeated Michael Blevins from Grace 6-1, 6-4. Knust would capture the championship with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Luke Buchanan from Capital.
In the No. 2 flight, Joe Dunbar (Carmel, Ind./Blessed Theodore Guerin) won his opening match 6-3, 6-2 before falling in the title game 6-2, 6-0. In the third singles flight, Joe Clark (Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis) took down his first opponent 6-1, 6-2 but fell 6-2, 6-1 in the championship. In the fifth singles, Nick Ihrie (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) had to use a second set tiebreaker to defeat his opening round opponent 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Ihrie would then come up on the short end of the stick in the finals, falling 6-1, 6-1. In the final flighted matches at the sixth position, Trevor Derby (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) made quick work of his first opponent 6-2, 6-0. Derby would take the silver as he fell 6-1, 6-1 in the finals.
In doubles action, Trine went undefeated against both Defiance and Capital, but dropped all three of their matches to Grace. The team of Knust and senior Dan Desper (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) nearly knocked off the Blevins brothers from Grace, falling 9-7.
Trine will travel to Taylor for their next match on April 17 for a 3:00 p.m. match.