Stags Tennis Wins One for the Ages

In what will be remembered as one of the most dramatic wins in CMS Men's Tennis history, the Stags came back from a 4-0 deficit against #1 ranked UC Santa Cruz and pulled off the impossible, winning five straight singles matches to earn a 5-4 victory and re-establish themselves as one of the top teams in Division III men's tennis.

After getting swept in doubles and dropping #4 singles in straight sets, it looked as if the Stags were in for a long afternoon against the defending national champions. Mikey Lim (So. - Honolulu, HI) and Drew Sabater (So.- Claremont, CA) were a set down at #3 and #5 singles, while the other three singles matches were all competitive. The number one singles player Lawrence Wang (Jr. - Orange, CA) got the Stags on the board with his 6-1, 6-4 victory, closely followed by freshman Russell Brockett (Austin, TX), who, as a last minute replacement for the injured Ronald Wu, was inserted at #6 singles and won by a 6-1, 6-1 score.

With the match now at 4-2 in favor of Santa Cruz, the Stags still found themselves down a break of serve in the third sets of two of three remaining matches on court. Lim was the first to pull out a three-set victory at #3 and narrow the gap to 4-3 in favor of the Slugs. However, sophomore Eric MacColl (Greenbrae, CA) at #2 was down 5-4 in the third set, with his opponent - 2007 Ojai singles finalist and NCAA semifinalist Bryan Pybas - serving for the match. MacColl broke serve and then traded holds with Pybas to force a tie-break. In the tie-break, the lead switched three times, with neither player ever holding a lead of more than a point. MacColl and the Stags faced elimination, down a match point at 5-6 in the tie-break, but MacColl came up with his biggest serve of the day - a service winner up the tee to the ad side, to level it at 6-all. As MacColl was saving a match point, Sabater at #5 broke his opponent serving for the match at 5-4, to create a massive momentum swing in the Stags favor. MacColl then went on to win two gutty points and secure his match and get the Stags even at 4-all. With Sabater's service hold at 5-all, the junior was now returning serve to complete the impossible comeback. On the first point, Sabater forced a forehand volley error with a passing shot up the line to go up Love-15. A forehand error on the second point followed by a double fault at Love-30, gave Sabater and the Stags three match points. After a service winner saved the first, Sabater ripped a forehand return at 15-40 that was called out and then over-ruled by the umpire, to give the Stags the incredible comeback win.

The win moves CMS to 20-7 overall and marks the second time this season that they have beaten a team ranked #1 in Division III (Gustavus Adolphus - March 26). The Stags host the SCIAC tournament beginning Friday, April 18. As top seed in the tournament, the Stags will face 8^th seed Caltech at 9:00 AM. The tournament will conclude on Saturday, with the conference champion advancing to the NCAA tournament.