Jake Williams
Jake Williams

Stags too tough for No. 7 Carnegie Mellon

CLAREMONT, Calif. – In a dual match filled with momentum changes and saved match points, No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team outlasted No. 7 Carnegie Mellon by a 7-2 score as part of a double-header sweep on Sunday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. CMS defeated regional opponent Hardin-Simmons 9-0 in the afternoon match, improving to 7-0 overall on the season.

After CMS had taken a 1-0 lead with senior Max Macey (CMC) and freshman Jake Williams' (HMC) win at No. 3 doubles, the drama began on the first two courts. In a flashback to 2016, the Stags' No. 1 team of sophomore Julian Gordy (CMC) and senior Daniel Morkovine (CMC) erased a 7-2 deficit, saving a match point on Morkovine's serve at 6-7, and then going on to win 9-7 to give CMS a 2-0 lead. Morkovine and Skyler Butts (CMC '16) had erased a 1-6, love-40 deficit to beat the same CMU team 8-6 a year ago. The Stags'doubles joy was fleeting on Sunday morning however, as No. 2 team of senior Glenn Hull (CMC) and freshman Jay Yeam (CMC) had a match point of their own at 7-8, before dropping an 8-6 tie-break.

In the singles, captains Hull and Morkovine stayed perfect with straight set wins at the top two positions. Macey got his second win of the day at No. 5 singles for the clinch, only minutes before Gordy had taken the second set at No. 6. With the overall match score clinched for CMS at 6-2, Gordy and CMU's Kiril Kirkov played a match tie-break in lieu of a third set. Gordy saved two match points down 9-6, and then at 9-8 hit a volley that was called out and immediately overruled by the ITA official. With new life at 9-all, Gordy went on to win his fourth and fifth consecutive points to complete the win.

Against Hardin-Simmons in the afternoon match, CMS faced little resistance in a 9-0 win. Senior Alex Brenner (CMC) teamed with fellow senior Rohan Shankar (HMC) for an 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles to start the doubles sweep. Brenner returned at No. 2 singles for a 6-0, 6-0 win in his 2017 dual match debut. Freshman Nikolai Parodi (CMC) also made his dual match debut at No. 1 singles, posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory. The dual match was the second played in a three day span using an experimental modified Division I format, where all singles and doubles matches were played using no-ad scoring.

Next up for CMS is the Stag-Hen Invitational March 14-15. The Stags open up tournament play with No. 11 Wesleyan at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 14. In the second round of matches at 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, CMS will face either No. 5 Washington University, St. Louis or No. 24 Skidmore.

No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. No. 7 Carnegie Mellon (2)
March 12, 2017 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Daniel Morkovine / Julian Gordy (CMS)  def. Vayum Arora / Daniel Levine (Carnegie Mellon) 9-7
2. Jeffrey Chen / Chaz Downing (Carnegie Mellon) def. Glenn Hull / Jay Yeam (CMS) 9-8(6)
3. Max Macey / Jake Williams def. Michael Rozenvasser / Kenny Zheng (Carnegie Mellon) 8-4

Singles
1. Glenn Hull (CMS) def. Daniel Levine (Carnegie Mellon) 6-0, 6-4
2. Daniel Morkovine (CMS) def. Michael Rozenvasser (Carnegie Mellon) 7-6(3), 6-2
3. Chaz Downing (Carnegie Mellon) def. Daniel Park (CMS) 6-3, 6-2
4. Patrick Wildman (CMS) def. Kenny Zheng (Carnegie Mellon)  6-2, 6-3
5. Max Macey (CMS) def. Kunal Wadwani (Carnegie Mellon) 6-2, 6-3
6. Julian Gordy (CMS) def. Kiril Kirkov (Carnegie Mellon) 6-7(6), 6-2, (11-9)

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

No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. Hardin-Simmons (0)
March 12, 2017 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Jake Berber / Daniel Park (CMS)  def. Andrew Eurek / Alex Hunt (HSU) 8-5
2. Jake Williams / Jay Yeam (CMS) def. Chandler Livingston / Cameron Vose (HSU) 8-0
3. Alex Brenner / Rohan Shankar (CMS) def. B.J. Farmakis / Jordan Davis (HSU) 8-0

Singles
1. Nikolai Parodi (CMS) def. Griffin Weinkam (HSU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Alex Brenner (CMS) def. Ben Gutierrez (HSU) 6-0, 6-0
3. Jake Berber (CMS) def. Michael Boyd (HSU) 6-2, 6-0
4. Jay Yeam (CMS) def. Chandler Livingston (HSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Avinash Vemuri (CMS) def. Cameron Vose (HSU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Matt Jacobs (CMS) def. Kwade Boyd (HSU) 6-0, 6-1

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

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