Doubles Team Drops Opening Round Match
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
February 4, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - After completing the fall season with an undefeated record, the doubles team of Ken Kigongo (Bradenton, Fla.) and Francisco Trinidad (Mexico City, Mexico) dropped their first match of the spring. The number two doubles team in the nation ended up losing 6-3, 6-4 to the doubles team of Dumitru Caradima and Shuon Madden from Texas A&M at the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.
After compiling a record of 8-0, the duo must now figure out how to come back from their first lost. The junior doubles team enters the back draw on Friday at 4:30 when they compete against Wojtek Bratek and Joe Gruen of Weber who lost their opening round match 6-4, 7-6 (1) to Pepe Caballero and Dobey Nicholas of New Mexico.
Kigongo and Trinidad were seeded at number two. All other seeded doubles teams won their opening round matches with the one and three seeds moving on to the semifinals.
The Rolex National Intercollegiate feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including qualifiers from Division 1 ITA Regional Championships held across the county during the fall, the winners of the first two legs of the 1998-99 ITA Collegiate Grand Slam and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament committee. Kigongo and Trinidad received an automatic bid by winning the ITA Region IV Championships held at Michigan State last fall. The Rolex National Indoor Championships were inaugurated in 1978.
The Michigan State mens team will open their spring season of team competition when they travel to face the Cardinals of the University of Louisville on February 7.
