Kigongo and Trinidad Still Alive
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
February 6, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - After dropping their first match of the season in the opening round of the Rolex National Intercollegiate, the Michigan State doubles team of Ken Kigongo (Bradenton, Fla.) and Francisco Trinidad (Mexico City, Mexico) regained its winning touch on Friday. After redrawing the brackets for the back draw, the number two doubles team in the nation defeated Ariel Rivero and Francisco Rodriguez of Alabama 6-3, 7-5. The Spartan tandem now faces Kelly Gullet and John Hui of Pepperdine in the consolation bracket semifinals. Both the semifinals and finals are played on Saturday.
After compiling a record of 8-0 in the fall, the duo had high hopes entering the tournament, but after losing their opening round match they had to regroup and put their loss behind them. The doubles team who defeated the Spartans, Dumitru Caradima and Shuon Madden of Texas A&M, has moved on to the finals where they face Jeff Laski and Gavin Sontag of Illinois for the mens doubles title.
Kigongo and Trinidad were seeded at number two. All other seeded doubles teams won their opening round matches with only the number three seeds, Laski and Sontag, 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.