INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Committee has reprimanded Trinity University for the unsportsmanlike behavior of one of its student-athletes.

Specifically, a Trinity student-athlete displayed unsportsmanlike conduct at the conclusion of his first-round doubles match by directing comments and gestures toward the parent of one of his opponents.  The parent was filming the match at the time of the incident.  According to the Division III Men’s Tennis Championships handbook, “misconduct is any act of unsportsmanlike conduct…that discredits the event or intercollegiate athletics.”

The committee withheld the transportation and per diem for the student-athlete.

“The committee was very disappointed in this behavior and strongly believes that the championship should not be tarnished by such acts” said Rich Meckfessel, chair of the Division III Men’s Tennis Committee and commissioner of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. “Good sportsmanship is as much a part of championship tennis as good playing. I, and the Division III Men's Tennis Committee, felt that the conduct of the Trinity player did not live up to that standard and therefore a penalty was in order. We would have disqualified him from the tournament, but that would not have been fair to his doubles partner who had no part in the incident."