No. 3 Stags Drop Tough Battle Against No. 11 Williams
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team suffered its third loss of the season on Tuesday night at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center, a 5-4 thriller to No. 11 Williams College. Despite two wins each from junior captain Julian Gordy (CMC) and sophomore Nikolai Parodi (CMC), the Stags couldn't overcome a 2-1 deficit after the doubles, nor could they rally from 4-1 down to overtake the Ephs.
Gordy and Parodi gave CMS its only lead of the dual match with a dominant 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. The Stags' doubles momentum then stalled, as No. 2 pair Oscar Burney (CMC) and Jack Katzman (CMC) failed to capitalize on an opening game break and lost for only the second time this season. Third pair Jake Berber (CMC) and Daniel Park (CMC) were broken in the third and eleventh games, and failed to convert their only break point in an 8-4 loss. This meant that CMS would trail for only the second time this season heading into the singles.
As the singles got underway, CMS hoped to gain advantage by winning at least four of six first sets. Parodi and Park won first sets at No. 1 and No. 5, while Katzman, Burney, and Matthew Jacobs (CMC) dropped first sets at Nos. 2, 3, and 6. Gordy gave the Stags a spark as he toughed out a 7-6(2) opening set. After straight set wins for Williams at Nos. 6 and 2, CMS trailed 4-1 and a comeback looked improbable, but not impossible. Parodi's three-set win at No. 1 narrowed Williams' lead to 4-2, with the Ephs holding third-set leads at Nos. 3, 4, and 5. Down 4-5 and a game from elimination, Burney won the last three games of the match for victory at No. 3 to reduce Williams' lead to 4-3. However, there would be no late match heroics that the Stags' Daniel Park could muster up at No. 5, as the sophomore was outlasted in the final set. With the match already clinched for Williams, Gordy battled back from an early service break down in the third set to pull off a 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(5) win at No. 4. The Stags' captain needed seven match points to seal the victory, in what was one of the highest quality matches of the evening.
CMS is now 15-3 on the season and will face West Regionl rival UC Santa Cruz at 10:00 AM on Friday, March 30 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. The Stags then resume SCIAC play later that afternoon at 2:00 PM as they host Chapman. On Saturday, to conclude a thirteen match homestand, CMS will face No. 2 Middlebury at 10:00 AM.
#3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4) vs. #11 Williams (5)
March 27, 2018 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Julian Gordy / Nikolai Parodi (CMS) def. Brian Grodecki / Austin Barr (Williams) 8-2
2. Alex Taylor / Calvin Chung (Williams) def. Oscar Burney Jack Katzman (CMS) 8-5
3. Arturo Kam / Jordan Sadowski (Williams) def. Jake Berber / Daniel Park (CMS) 8-4
Singles
1. Nikolai Parodi (CMS) def. def. Brian Grodecki (Williams) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
2. Austin Barr (Williams) def. Jack Katzman (CMS) 6-2, 6-2
3. Oscar Burney (CMS) def. Sachin Raghavan (Williams) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
4. Julian Gordy (CMS) def. Ananth Raghavan (Williams) 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(5)
5. Alex Taylor (Williams) def. Daniel Park (CMS) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. Arturo Kam (Williams) def. Matthew Jacobs (CMS) 6-0, 6-0
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 6, 2, 1, 3, 5, 4
