Stags Stop #9 Middlebury 8-1

Hours after ascending to the top ranking in the D3 poll, CMS Stags Tennis won a hard fought 8-1 victory over #9 Middlebury on Thursday evening at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. CMS once again set the tone early against an elite nationally ranked opponent by dominating the doubles. The Stags' three teams established early leads by gaining service breaks in the opening games, then closed in similar fashion, with each position earning service breaks in their opponents' final service game. The Stags doubles sweep was their ninth against eleven D3 opponents.

The singles matches turned out to be much more competitive than the doubles, with three of the six positions going to either a third set or a deciding match tie-break. Senior Alex Johnson (Thousand Oaks, CA) put the Stags up 4-0 with a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win at #6, setting up #2 singles player Joe Dorn's (So. - Washington D.C.) straight set match clincher. Senior Alex Lane (Claremont, CA) won his sixth straight at #4 singles to put CMS 6-0, leaving three matches in progress in which Middlebury had won first sets.

Sophomore Warren Wood (Del Mar, CA) got his team-leading 14th singles victory of the season with a 5-7, 7-5, (10-3) at #1. Nik Marino (So. - San Diego, CA) lost for only the second time against a Division III opponent, falling 6-2 in the third set for Midd's only point of the evening. Freshman Skyler Butts (Santa Ana, CA) capped the Stags' scoring with a comeback third set victory at #5, winning 7-5 in the tie-break.

CMS improves to 13-3 overall and will host #5 Williams on Saturday at 2:00 PM.

#1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (8) vs. #9 Middlebury (1)
March 28, 2013 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Warren Wood / Joe Dorn (CMS) def. Alex Johnston / Spencer Lunghino (Middlebury) 8-3
2. Neel Kotrappa / Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Brantner Jones / Palmer Campbell (Middlebury) 8-3
3. Nikolas Marino / Alex Lane (CMS) def. Teddy Fitzgibbons / Andrew Lebovitz (Middlebury) 8-4

Singles
1. Warren Wood (CMS) def. Alex Johnston (Middlebury) 5-7, 7-5, (10-3)
2. Joe Dorn (CMS) def. Brantner Jones (Middlebury) 6-3, 7-5
3. Palmer Campbell (Middlebury) def. Nikolas Marino (CMS) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
4. Alex Lane (CMS) def.Spencer Lunghino (Middlebury) 6-3, 6-3
5. Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Teddy Fitzgibbons (Middlebury) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
6. Alex Johnson (CMS) def. Zach Bruchmiller (Middlebury) 6-0, 6-2

Order of completion
Doubles: 3, 1, 2
Singles: 6, 2, 4, 1, 3, 5