LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- On the heels of top-seeded and eighth-ranked Trinity picking up its 12th straight conference championship on Sunday, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the 2022 SCAC Men's Tennis All-Tournament team Friday afternoon. Complete Release
Several student-athletes earned repeat All-Tournament honors from a year ago, including Trinity's Christian Settles for his singles and doubles play. Settles has received all-tournament honors for doubles in three straight championships, including back-to-back years with partner Hao Nguyen. Nguyen was also a repeat honoree, having earned All-Tournament honors for his singles play last year and this year. The Tigers' Wilson Hamilton joins a rare group of four-time All-Tournament honorees, having earned recognition for his doubles play in 2018, 2019, 2021, and this year alongside partner Cameron Goldstein.
Southwestern's Hunter Bajoit earned his third-straight All-Tournament nod for his singles play, and Juanrodrigo Lopez and Jace Ware of St. Thomas, Alex Kley and Jacob Adas of Colorado College, and Vesko Lekovic of Southwestern each received their second career All-Tournament singles accolade.
Race Haas and Tyler Head of St. Thomas joined Settles, Nguyen, and Hamilton of Trinity as repeat honorees on the doubles side.
In Sunday's championship match, the nation's second-ranked doubles team got the Tigers off to a quick start as Christian Settles, and Hao Nguyen defeated Southwestern's No. 1 line of Vesko Lekovic and Hemanshu Rambojun, 8-2. However, both No. 2 and No. 3 teams fell behind early, trailing by three games at one point, with Wilson Hamilton and Cameron Goldstein down 6-3 and Cameron Krimbill and Alessio Azzalini trailing 5-2. Both pairs worked their way into just one-game margins, though Trinity had its back against the wall as both remaining doubles bouts saw 7-6 advantages for the Pirates. Just moments later, both matches were headed to a tiebreaker where the Tigers came out on top for the doubles sweep that seemed improbable just 20 minutes earlier. Krimbill and Azzalini's 7-4 breaker score sealed the sweep after a 7-5 mark from Hamilton and Goldstein inline two.
Taking the momentum of the come-from-behind 3-0 margin following doubles, the Tigers found two singles points fairly quickly as Settles defeated Anton Borovik at the No. 4 line, 6-2, 6-0, and Eric Liao clinched the match at No. 6, defeating the Pirates' Travis Rafferty, 6-1, 6-2 to give Trinity the match and the conference crown. Three of the four remaining singles matches held advantages for Trinity when the rackets dropped.
*2022 SCAC Men's Tennis All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles – Hunter Bajoit, Southwestern; Juanrodrigo Lopez, St. Thomas
No. 2 Singles – Steven Tibbetts, Southwestern; Race Haas, St. Thomas
No. 3 Singles – Tyler Head, St. Thomas; Vesko Lekovic, Southwestern
No. 4 Singles – Nathan Beerman, Colorado College; Lucas Pastor, Colorado College; Christian Settles, Trinity; Jace Ware, St. Thomas
No. 5 Singles – Oscar Roy, Southwestern; Jonathan Barragan, Schreiner; Wilson Hamilton, Trinity; Alex Kley, Colorado College
No. 6 Singles – Eric Liao, Trinity; Jacob Adas, Colorado College; Quinten Robertson, Schreiner
No. 1 Doubles – Hao Nguyen/Christian Settles, Trinity; Austin Cervantes/Carson Kirk, Schreiner
No. 2 Doubles – Cameron Goldstein/Wilson Hamilton, Trinity; Race Haas/Tyler Head, St. Thomas
No. 3 Doubles – Alessio Azzalini/Cameron Krimbill, Trinity; Jared Burton/Oscar Roy, Southwestern; Quinten Robertson/Max Schechter, Schreiner; Jacob Adas/Nate Beerman, Colorado College
*Any player (or doubles team) who goes through the conference tournament undefeated is automatically named to the all-tournament team. If no one player or team goes undefeated using the above criteria, then the next best record at that position will be named to the all-tournament team. Coaches may also nominate a player for the all-tournament team.