Men’s Tennis Defeats Whitman in NCAA 2nd Round

CMS Men's Tennis advanced to the third round of the NCAA Team Championship with a 5-1 win over Whitman College at CMS' Marks and Smith Courts on Saturday. The Stags were paced by senior captain Ben Hough (Spokane, WA [pictured right]), who had wins at #2 doubles and #6 singles. 

CMS got out to a 2-0 lead in the doubles when #3 pair Russell Brockett (Fr. - Austin, TX) and Mike Starr (So. - San Ramon, CA) earned a 8-4 win, and #2 doubles team Hough and Eric MacColl (So. - Greenbrae, CA) got a one-break 8-6 win. After losing at #1 doubles, the Stags singles players won five of six first sets to put CMS in a position to clinch. Junior Lawrence Wang (Orange, CA) was the first to win at #1 singles. Wang's straight set win was closely followed by similar triumphs from Hough at #6 and junior Drew Sabater (Claremont, CA) at #4, to give the Stags the 5-1 victory. 

The Stags will face #1 ranked UC Santa Cruz on Sunday at 12 Noon for the right to go to the NCAA final eight in Lewiston, Maine, May 13-15. The match-up between the nation's top two teams, marks the second consecutive year that the teams have faced each as other as #1 and #2 in the NCAA regional final. In their regular season dual match three weeks ago at CMS, the Stags pulled off a 5-4 win after trailing 4-0. 

CMS has now won ten straight matches and has been perfect in April and May. With the win over Whitman on Saturday, the Stags are now 24-7 on the season.