Men's Tennis Wins Two To Earn Top Seed in SCIAC Tourney
CMS Stags Tennis closed out SCIAC regular season play on Saturday with a 7-2 win at #19 Whittier and a 9-0 victory over Caltech at home. The Stags finish 7-0 in conference dual match play and will be the top seeded team at the SCIAC tournament May 3-4 at Whittier.
CMS established control of the morning match early in doubles play, taking leads of 5-1 at #1, 7-4 at #2, and 6-3 at #3. However, the Poets #1 team rallied to win seven of the last eight games, giving Whittier an unexpected 1-0 lead on their home courts. The Stags' #3 team Nikolas Marino (So. - San Diego, CA) and Alex Lane (Sr. - Claremont, CA) traded breaks of serve from 6-3 up to win 8-5 and level the match. With the match tied at 1-all, junior captain Neel Kotrappa (La Verne, CA) and Skyler Butts (Fr. - Santa Ana, CA) held a 7-4 advantage at #2, poised to put CMS up for good. But Whittier's #2 won five straight games to swing the dual match back in the Poets' favor.
Trailing 2-1 after the doubles for only the second time this season to a Division III team, CMS played with a sense of urgency in the singles. Senior Alex Johnson (Thousand Oaks, CA) yielded only only one game at #6 for his sixth straight win. Lane then put the Stags up for good with his 6-3, 6-0 win at #4, followed by Marino's straight set win at #3. After Butts' 14th victory at #5 put CMS up 5-2, the final two matches left on court proved to be the most exciting. Still reeling from a stinging defeat at #1 doubles, sophomores Warren Wood (Del Mar, CA) and Joe Dorn (Washington D.C.) came from behind at the top two singles positions to secure the 7-2 final score. Wood's singles featured two tie-breaks in the first two sets, and then a deciding match tie-break where both players had two match points. Wood saved his second match point with a spectacular backhand pass from outside the doubles alley, and then closed out the match two points later. Dorn erased a 1-4, two service break deficit in the third set to give CMS its final point of the dual.
In the afternoon match against Caltech, a senior-laden doubles lineup got the Stags out to a 3-0 lead. Johnson and first time partner Zhenya Pereverzin (Jr. - Clackamas, OR) were first off for CMS at the #2 position. Seniors Mac Cahill (Southport, CT) and Matt Ellis (Mercer Island, WA) won for the second time as a team, this time at #3.
CMS was dominant in the singles, dropping one game or less in four of the six matches. Freshmen Oliver Seifert (Austin, TX) and Bryan Mehall (Snowmass Village, CO) were responsible for two of those victories at #4 and #6. Butts' second singles win of the day and his 15th of the spring completed the shutout for the Stags.
CMS improves to 21-3 on the season and will next face NAIA opponent Concordia on Friday, April 19 at 2:00 PM at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. Then on Sunday, April 21 at 11:00 AM, CMS will host West Regional rival and #10 ranked UC Santa Cruz.
#1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. #19 Whittier (2)
April 13, 2013 at Whittier, CA (Etlinger Tennis Courts)
Doubles
1. Julian Seneviratne / David Konstantinov (Whittier) def. Warren Wood / Joe Dorn (CMS) 8-6
2. Chris Schommer / Andrew Hansen (Whittier) def. Neel Kotrappa / Skyler Butts (CMS) 9-7
3. Nikolas Marino / Alex Lane (CMS) def. Matthew Herron / Shogo Shimizu (Whittier) 8-5
Singles
1. Warren Wood (CMS) def. Julian Seneviratne (Whittier) 7-6(5), 6-7(5), (13-11)
2. Joe Dorn (CMS) def. David Konstantinov (Whittier) 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
3. Nikolas Marino (CMS) def. Chris Schommer (Whittier) 6-3, 6-2
4. Alex Lane (CMS) def. Matthew Herron (Whittier) 6-3, 6-0
5. Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Sam Farmer 7-6(2), 6-3
6. Alex Johnson (CMS) def. Andrew Hansen (Whittier) 6-0, 6-1
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 6, 4, 3, 5, 1, 2
#1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. Caltech (0)
April 13, 2013 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Neel Kotrappa / Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Devashish Joshi / Luka Mernik (Caltech) 8-5
2. Alex Johnson / Zhenya Pereverzin (CMS) def. Ishan Metha / Amol Kamat (Caltech) 8-1
3. Mac Cahill / Matt Ellis (CMS) def. JD Co-Reyes / Rushikesh Joshi (Caltech) 8-3
Singles
1. Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Devashish Joshi (Caltech) 6-3, 6-4
2. Neel Kotrappa (CMS) def. Rushikesh Joshi (Caltech) 6-0, 6-0
3. Mac Cahill (CMS) def. Luka Mernik (Caltech) 6-1, 6-4
4. Oliver Seifert (CMS) def. Alex Henry (Caltech) 6-1, 6-0
5. Matt Ellis (CMS) def. Amol Kamat (Caltech) 6-0, 6-1
6. Bryan Mehall (CMS) def. Brian Kim (Caltech) 6-0, 6-1
Order of completion
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 4, 2, 5, 6, 3, 1