HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – Caleb Morris of the Trine University men's tennis team has been named this week's Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week, following an undefeated week that was crucial in securing the first ever MIAA championship in program history.
This is the fourth time this season a member of the Thunder has earned MIAA Athlete of the Week honors. It is first time in Morris's career that the junior has taken home the award.
The Terre Haute, Indiana native won both of his matches in the week to lift the team to a 5-4 victory over Calvin University on Saturday, securing at least a share of the 2024 MIAA Regular Season Title. During the doubles portion of the contest, Morris and Nicholas Jen came up with one of three team points for the Thunder with an 8-4 win in the No. 3 match.
Morris followed up with a heroic performance in the singles portion of the match. He took the opening set of his No. 5 contest 6-3 before falling in a 7-2 tiebreaker in the second set. The junior went down 4-1 in the third set and then battled through three match points with the score at 5-4 to force extra points. After going down 3-0 to start the tiebreaker he pushed through for the 10-8 win. His final scores where 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (10-8), earning the crucial winning fifth point for the team.
The Thunder will look to secure an outright championship when they face Kalamazoo College tomorrow, Tuesday, April 23 at 4 p.m. With a win, Trine would become the first outright MIAA regular season championship team, not from Kalamazoo, since 1935.