Doubles wins lift CMS by rival Pomona-Pitzer and into NCAA quarterfinals
CLAREMONT, Calif. – In each of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s tennis team’s three previous victories over Pomona-Pitzer in 2015, Pomona-Pitzer captured at least one doubles point and led after doubles in the last two matches. However, on Saturday, all three doubles teams for CMS came away victorious as CMS defeated Pomona-Pitzer 5-0 in the third round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships on May 9 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The win puts CMS in the Division III quarterfinals on May 18 against the winner of a third round match between Kenyon and Johns Hopkins. CMS defeated Johns Hopkins 7-2 earlier this season at Johns Hopkins.
In two previous matches against Pomona-Pitzer this season, including the finals of the SCIAC Championships on May 2, Pomona-Pitzer’s No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams defeated CM S on each occasion. CMS has trailed just twice after doubles over the last two seasons; both coming this year to Pomona-Pitzer.
In Saturday’s third round match, the CMS No. 1 doubles team of Warren Wood and Joe Dorn defeated Connor Hudson and Kalyan Chadalavada 8-3. Shortly thereafter, Skyler Butts and Daniel Morkovine closed out their win, 8-3, in No. 2 doubles over Graham Maassen and Jonathan Kim. The No. 3 doubles match proved to be the biggest obstacle for CMS as Nik Marino and Glenn Hull trailed Pomona-Pitzer’s Spencer Simonides and Antony Bello 4-2 only to come back and win 8-5. Pomona-Pitzer had defeated CMS 8-4 and 8-6 in No. 2 doubles and 9-8 (4) and 9-8 (2) in No. 3 doubles in the last two matches.
CMS has now led 3-0 after doubles 17 times this season.
With an opportunity to sweep Pomona-Pitzer, CMS earned wins in No. 6 singles by Hull (6-1, 6-1) and at No. 3 singles by Marino (6-1, 6-2). Hull remains perfect in singles in dual matches this season. In the No. 3 singles match, Marino just edged out Dorn for the clinching win. The win for Marino was the 107th singles victory of his career. Dorn was leading Antony Bello 6-2, 5-2 when the match ended. CMS led in three of the four singles matches that were still being played.
The final rounds of the NCAA Team Championships run from May 18-20.
Results
