Junior Daniel Park (CMC) earned two important wins in CMS' 5-4 victory over No. 8 Wesleyan on Wednesday. Park added another doubles win in the afternoon match against Coast Guard Academy.
Junior Daniel Park (CMC) earned two important wins in CMS' 5-4 victory over No. 8 Wesleyan on Wednesday. Park added another doubles win in the afternoon match against Coast Guard Academy.

Doubles Again Makes The Difference As Stags Outlast No. 8 Wesleyan 5-4

MIDDLETOWN, CT. - No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis earned it's second dramatic 5-4 win in as many days, this time against No. 8 Wesleyan. The Stags took a crucial 2-1 advantage from the doubles and then got wins from Nikolai Parodi (CMC) at No. 1, Jack Katzman (CMC) at No. 2, and Daniel Park (CMC) at No. 5 for another important indoor road win. After defeating Wesleyan, CMS moved outdoors for an afternoon match against the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in which the Stags prevailed 9-0.

The Wesleyan win was also the 400th career victory for Head Coach Paul Settles, who improved his all-time record to 400-84 in his 16 years with the Stags, before moving to 401-84 with the Coast Guard win. His CMS career has featured an NCAA Division III national championship in 2015, the second in program history, and four appearances in the NCAA finals in the last six years. He has also led the Stags to 124 SCIAC wins in a row, on the verge of passing a once seemingly unbreakable streak of 143, set by Redlands in the 1960s and 1970s

Katzman and Robert Liu (CMC) continued to anchor the Stags' tough doubles play, winning by 8-6 at the No. 2 position to give CMS the lead. At No. 3 doubles, Park partnered Casey Morris (CMC), and the duo came back from a break down at 5-3 to win the final five games and give CMS it's first point of the day. With a 2-1 lead heading into singles, CMS got a solid straight set win at No. 2 from Katzman, who is now 15-2 overall and has won nine straight dual matches. Up 3-1, the Stags had hoped to capitalize on leads in both sets for senior captain Julian Gordy (CMC). Gordy led 5-3 in the first set and then 5-2 in the second before succumbing 7-6(3), 7-5 at No. 3 singles, only minutes after Liu had lost in two tough sets at No. 4.

With the match tied at 3-all, CMS needed two wins from it's three position players on court: Parodi at No. 1, Park at No. 5, and freshman Ethan Carroll (HMC) at No. 6. Parodi was first to convert on court one, playing a near-flawless decisive set to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Park then clinched in similar fashion: after grinding out a tough 7-5 first set that ended in him breaking serve, he ran off six straight games in the second to secure the win for CMS. Park's numbers continue to impress, as he is now 8-0 in singles and 11-2 with both Oscar Burney (CMC) and Morris in doubles.

In the afternoon match against Coast Guard, Liu and Carroll won second chance singles matches in straight sets, while Gordy and Parodi made the most of a second opportunity at the top doubles spot. Burney partnered with Park at No. 2 doubles and then got his first singles win of the season at No. 5. The 5-4 win over Wesleyan and 9-0 win over U.S. Coast Guard Academy move CMS' record to 13-0 on the season. 

Next up for the Stags is the final match of the New England trip on Friday at 3 PM EST at No. 7 Amherst.

#6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (5) vs. #8 Wesleyan (4)
March 20, 2019 at Middletown, CT (Bacon Field House)

Doubles
1. Adrian Roji / Noah Lilienthal (Wes) def. Julian Gordy / Nikolai Parodi (CMS) 8-3
2. Jack Katzman / Robert Liu (CMS) def. Princeton Carter / Ali Mooraj (Wes) 8-6
3.  Casey Morris / Daniel Park (CMS) def. Andrew Finkelman / Zach Fleischman (Wes) 8-5

Singles
1. Nikolai Parodi (CMS) def. Andrew Finkelman (Wes) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
2. Jack Katzman (CMS) def. Peter August Anker (Wes) 6-2, 6-3
3. Adrian Roji (Wes) def. Julian Gordy (CMS) 7-6(3), 7-5
4. Noah Lilienthal (Wes) def. Robert Liu (CMS) 6-4, 6-4
5. Daniel Park (CMS) def. Princeton Carter (Wes) 7-5, 6-0
6. Zach Lieb (Wes) def. Ethan Carroll (CMS) 6-0, 6-3

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

#6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. Coast Guard Academy (0)
March 20, 2019 at Middletown, CT (John L. Wood Memorial Courts)

Doubles
1. Julian Gordy / Nikolai Parodi (CMS) def. Thomas Hackett / Jack Phillips (Coast Guard) 8-3
2. Oscar Burney / Daniel Park (CMS) def. Kyle Fager / Christopher Lansing (Coast Guard) 8-1
3. Casey Morris / Jake Williams (CMS) def. Lucas Arora / Arthur Wicke (Coast Guard) 8-1

Singles
1. Robert Liu (CMS) def. Thomas Hackett (Coast Guard) 6-4, 6-0
2. Casey Morris (CMS) def. Kyle Fager (Coast Guard) 6-1, 6-0
3. Matthew Jacobs (CMS) def. Arthur Wicke (Coast Guard) 6-2, 6-0
4. Ethan Carroll (CMS) def. Christopher Lansing (Coast Guard) 6-0, 6-2
5. Oscar Burney (CMS) def. Jack Phillips (Coast Guard) 6-2, 6-2
6. Jake Williams (CMS) def. Lucas Arora (Coast Guard) 6-1, 6-1

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