CMS blanks #21 UC Santa Cruz in Stags Tennis Against Cancer match
#2 CMS Stags Tennis defeated west region rival #21 UC Santa Cruz by a 9-0 score on Wednesday in the inaugural Stags Tennis Against Cancer dual match. The Stags wore one of a kind pink-trimmed shorts to raise awareness for the American Cancer Society and the Relay for Life at the Claremont Colleges.
CMS earned its fourth consecutive doubles sweep against a Division III opoonent, with the west's top team Warren Wood (Sr. Capt - Del Mar, CA) and Joe Dorn (Sr. - Washington D.C.) getting a two service break win at #1. At the second doubles position, the Stags' Skyler Butts (Jr. - Santa Ana, CA) and Daniel Morkovine (So. - San Carlos, CA) won their sixth straight to put CMS up 2-0. CMS' third pair Nik Marino (Sr. Capt - San Diego, CA) and Bryan Mehall (Jr. - Snowmass Village, CO) fought back from an early 3-1 deficit to win seven of the last nine games and complete the sweep.
In singles, both Wood and Butts dropped their first sets at the top two spots. At #1, Wood suffered the only service break of the opening set at 3-4, and couldn't break back to stay in the first. He came back strong for an easy 6-1 win in the second, and needed only one break in the third to close out the match 6-4. Butts had leads of 4-5 and 5-6 receiving in the first, and then a set point at 5-6 in the tie-break, but lost the next three points to drop the set. He too came on strong in the second, also winning 6-1, before comfortably winning the deciding match tie-break by a 10-4 margin.
CMS was most dominant at the bottom of their lineup. Sophomore Max Macey (Wilton, CT) was first off for the Stags with his 6-0, 6-2 win at #6. Morkovine then clinched for the cardinal and gold, yielding only three games at the #5 position. Marino and Dorn followed with straight set wins at #3 and #4 to give CMS a 7-0 lead with Wood and Butts still on court.
With its eighth win against a ranked Division III opponent on the season, CMS improves to 13-1 overall. On Friday, March 27, the Stags take on #3 Middlebury at 2:00 PM at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
#2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. #21 UC Santa Cruz (0)
March 25, 2015 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Joe Dorn / Warren Wood (CMS) def. Max Littlejohn / Karl Richter (UCSC) 8-4
2. Skyler Butts / Daniel Morkovine (CMS) def. Chad Stone / Derek Levchenko (UCSC) 8-5
3. Nik Marino / Bryan Mehall (CMS) def. Adrian Sirovica / Chetan Munugala (UCSC) 8-5
Singles
1. Warren Wood (CMS) def Max Littlejohn (UCSC) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Chad Stone (UCSC) 6-7(6), 6-1, (10-4)
3. Nikolas Marino (CMS) def. Sean Hollister (UCSC) 6-3, 6-1
4. Joe Dorn (CMS) def. A.J. Flora (UCSC) 6-4, 6-3
5. Daniel Morkovine (CMS) def. James Soper (UCSC) 6-2, 6-1
6. Max Macey (CMS) def. Derek Levchenko (UCSC) 6-0, 6-2
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 6, 5, 3, 4, 2, 1