Daniel Park
Daniel Park

Stags fall to Emory in National Championship Match

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team came up against fierce competition in Emory University in the NCAA Men's Tennis National Championship match. The Stags went down 3-0 in doubles competition and were unable to recover in singles play, ultimately falling 5-2. CMS has now been in the title match four of the past five years and won it in 2015. Emory last won the team championship in 2012.

"We were beaten by a better team today," said head coach Paul Settles. "I'm so very proud of all this team has accomplished. This group pulled off on-court feats that I wouldn't have expected once in a season, let alone multiple times. Through everything, they conducted themselves and represented CMS with class. It's been a privilege to lead this team"

For the second day in a row, the Stags trailed 3-0 after doubles play, putting them perilously close to defeat. During the break, the Stags rallied together, and vowed to try their best to make today another one of those spectacular comebacks.

CMS and Emory spilt first sets evenly as Alex Brenner (CMC '17) won 6-4, followed by Daniel Park (CMC '20) at 6-3 and then finally Daniel Morkovine (CMC '17) at 7-5. Glenn Hull (CMC '17) just barely came out on the wrong side of a tiebreak in first set, losing 7-4 while Nikolai Parodi (CMC '20) and Max Macey (CMC '17) dropped the first as well, 6-4 and 7-5 respectively.

Brenner was the first to clinch his match gaining momentum as the second set wore on and winning it 6-1. Hull fell to Jonathan Jemison shortly thereafter (7-6, 6-2), giving Emory their crucial fourth team point. The remaining four singles matches split sets meaning the national championship would be decided by third set victories.

With their backs against the wall, the Stags earned another point with the dramatic win by Parodi at No. 1 singles. Parodi avenged his earlier season loss to Aman Manji with the 4-6, 6-2, 6-3win and brought CMS within striking distance, but still trailing 4-2.

With Park and Macey battling it out at No. 5 and 4 singles, eyes turned to Morkovine at the No. 3 singles court. After Morkovine won the first set 7-5, Adrien Bouchet surged back for the 6-2 win in the second and then 7-5 in the third to clinch the championship for the Eagles.

Julian Gordy (CMC '19) and Jake Williams (HMC '20) paired for the No. 3 doubles team and Jake Berber (CMC '20) partnered with Hull at No. 2 doubles.

Hull, Parodi and Morkovine will represent the Stags as individuals in the singles draw, starting tomorrow, May 25.

Results

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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