Stags finish off Whittier but fall short to #18 Azusa Pacific
#3 CMS Stags Tennis clinched the top seed in the SCIAC tournament by defeating Whittier 5-0 in a match postponed by rain from April 9, but then fell to #18 (Division II) Azusa Pacific on Tuesday night at the Biszantz Famly Tennis Center. Sophomore Patrick Wildman (Cincinnati, OH) was one of five CMS singles players to earn straight set victories in the simultaneous double-header. Wildman's 7-5, 6-4 win at #5 singles against APU drew the Stags within a point before the Cougers held on for the 5-4 road victory.
After sweeping the doubles and holding one set leads at three singles positions against Whittier back on April 9, rain stopped play and the match was resumed on Tuesday night. The resumption of the rain delayed dual match had been approved to be played to decision only, so CMS earned singles victories at #6 from Oliver Seifert (Sr. - Los Altos, CA) and #5 Rohan Shankar (Jr. - San Jose, CA) to clinch the victory. Seifert moved to 5-1 in singles play this spring by winning six of the final seven games of a match that had been stopped at 6-2, 0-1 in his favor. Shankar moved to 6-0 in dual matches and 11-1 overall by winning the second set 6-0 of his delayed match.
In the nightcap against the 18th ranked APU Cougers of Division II, the Stags knew that doubles would play an important role in the outcome. A year ago, CMS lost a heartbreaker at APU after falling beghind 2-1 after doubles and then splitting three of six singles matches to lose 5-4, one of only two losses in all of 2015 for the Stags. Tuesday night was eerily similar, as the Stags and Cougers split the top two doubles positions, and the dual match advantage hinged on the result of two evenly matched pairs at #3. Despite multiple break point opportunities, the Stags' #3 pair fell just one break short and APU took the 2-1 lead into singles, which once again were split, and the Cougers held on for another 5-4 victory.
Skyler Butts (Sr. Captain - Santa Ana, CA) and Daniel Morkovine's (Jr. San Carlos, CA) win at #1 doubles was their fourth straight and second in three days against higher divsional opponents. With the win, Butts becomes CMS' all-time career leader in doubles victories, and now holds career wins records for both doubles (116) and singles (114).
CMS had straight set singles wins in singles from Morkovine at #3, Wildman at #5, and Julian Gordy (Fr. - Tarzana, CA) at #6. Gordy's match ended when his opponent received his second code violation of the evening, this time on match point.
With the win over Whittier, CMS finishes the SCIAC regular season with a perfect 7-0 record and will be the top seed and host for the conference tournament May 6-8. The Stags will face Occidental in the opening round on Friday, May 6 at 3:00 PM.
Next up for the Stags is the 116th Annual Ojai Valley Tournament, this Friday through Sunday, April 22-24.
#3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (5) vs. Whittier (0)
April 19, 2016 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Skyler Butts / Daniel Morkovine (CMS) def. Sam Farmer / Andrew You (Whittier) 8-6
2. Glenn Hull / Lestter Yeh (CMS) def. Troy Chavez / Tyler Linscott (Whittier) 8-4
3. Max Macey / Bryan Mehall (CMS) def. Sean Jardinico / David Stanko (Whittier) 8-4
Singles
1. Max Macey (CMS) vs. Sam Farmer (Whittier) 5-1, DNF
2. Avi Vemuri (CMS) vs. Andrew You (Whittier) 2-4, DNF
3. Bryan Mehall (CMS) vs. Sean Jardinico (Whittier) 7-6(4), DNF
4. Alex Brenner (CMS) vs. David Stanko (Whittier) 6-3, 3-1, DNF
5. Rohan Shankar (CMS) def. Tyler Linscott (Whittier) 6-3, 6-0
6. Oliver Seifert (CMS) def. Emilio Yera (Whittier) 6-2, 6-2
Order of completion
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 6, 5
#3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4) vs. #18 Azusa Pacific (5)
April 19, 2016 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Skyler Butts / Daniel Morkovine (CMS) def. Jan Meyer / Olger Van Gent (APU) 8-3
2. Pascal Engel / Alan Leahy (APU) def. Julian Gordy / Patrick Wildman (CMS) 8-2
3. Christian Schmid / Shepherd Newcomb (APU) def. Lestter Yeh / Glenn Hull (CMS) 8-6
Singles
1. Jan Meyer (APU) def. Skyler Butts (CMS) 6-1, 6-1
2. Christian Schmid (APU) def. Glenn Hull (CMS) 6-4, 6-0
3. Daniel Morkovine (CMS) def. Alan Leahy (APU) 6-4, 6-2
4. Pascal Engel (APU) def. Max Macey (CMS) 6-2, 6-2
5. Patrick Wildman (CMS) def. Olger Van Gent (APU) 7-5, 6-4
6. Julian Gordy (CMS) def. Shepherd Newcomb (APU) 6-3, 6-4
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 1, 3, 2, 5, 4, 6