NCAA Run Halted By Chicago in the National Quarterfinals
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The 2018 campaign came to an end for the No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags in the National Quarterfinals on a cool and damp Friday afternoon with the Stags suffering a 5-2 loss against the University of Chicago Maroon. CMS ends their season with a 30-4 overall record, a SCIAC Championship, and their ninth-straight appearance in the National Quarterfinals.
CMS fell down early against the Maroon, dropping all three doubles matches before rallying for the first two points in singles play. At the top two singles spots, Nikolai Parodi (CMC) and Jack Katzman (CMC) earned convincing victories to close the match to 3-2, but Chicago claimed points on courts three and four to close out the match, and the Stags' season.
Parodi was off the courts first in singles play, earning a 6-2, 6-4 victory on the top court over Erik Kerrigan. At No. 2 singles, Katzman was quick to follow suit with a 6-2, 6-2 victory, but wins from Chicago's Luke Tsai and Jeremy Yuan on courts three and four sealed the deal for the Maroon. With the win, Chicago moves on to the National Semifinals tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. with a match against Bowdoin College.
Prior to singles play, the Stags suffered their first sweep in doubles play this season. Chicago jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead thanks to strong performances on all three courts. The No. 2 pairing of Tyler Raclin and Jeremy Yuan took down the CMS team of Oscar Burney (CMC) and Jack Katzman by an 8-1 final. It was the largest loss that Katzman/Burney had experienced all season and the duo finished the year with a 22-6 overall record in doubles play.
On court one, Julian Gordy (CMC) and Nikolai Parodi were handed an 8-4 setback by the Chicago team of Erik Kerrigan and Ninan Kumar. Then on court three, it looked like CMS was going to grab one of the doubles matches when Robert Liu (CMC) and Daniel Park (CMC) held a 7-6 lead late in their match, but Chicago's David Liu and Nicolas Chua broke serve twice and claimed the 9-7 victory.
As mentioned, Parodi and Katzman helped make things interesting, but the doubles advantage built by Chicago made the hill too steep to climb for the Stags and they finished the 2018 season with an impressive 30-4 overall record.
