Stags' Ascent Continues With Wins Over No. 20 Gustavus and Whittier

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team earned their seventh doubleheader sweep of the season on Saturday, defeating No. 20 Gustavus Adolphus and Whittier by 7-2 and 9-0 scores. Junior Oscar Burney (CMC) led the Stags with singles and doubles wins in both matches, and CMS improved to 20-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

For only the fourth time this season, CMS failed to gain an advantage from doubles play in the morning match against Gustavus. Burney and partner Daniel Park (CMC) put the Stags up quickly with an 8-0 shutout at the No. 3 position, but the Gusties answered with a comfortable win at No. 1. All attention then shifted to court two, where Julian Gordy (CMC) and Jake Williams (HMC) held a 6-4, 40-15 lead on Williams' serve. Gustavus responded with their best play of the match to break serve and eventually force a tie-break. Gordy and Williams saved two match points at 3-6 in the tie-break but couldn't save a third, and Gustavus took the 2-1 lead into singles.

With juniors Nikolai Parodi (CMC) and Daniel Park (CMC) sidelined with injuries, Burney and sophomore Casey Morris (CMC) were called upon at No. 5 and No. 6, while Nic Meister (CMC), Robert Liu (CMC), and Gordy all moved up in the lineup. Gordy at No. 2 was the first of five teammates to deliver straight set wins. He was followed by Meister at No. 4, then Jack Katzman (CMC) at No. 1. Liu then got the clinch, coming back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set to pull away with a 6-4, 6-1 victory. Burney and Morris, at Nos. 5 and 6, got the Stags their sixth and seventh points to complete the singles sweep. The 7-2 victory was CMS' twelfth against thirteen ranked opponents thus far in 2019.

Against Whittier in the afternoon match, CMS earned its second doubles sweep against a SCIAC opponent in as many days. Katzman and Liu needed to come back from a break down at 4-5, but won the final four games for a win at the top position. Gordy and Burney paired up for the first time since the 2017 ITA West Regionals, and were 8-3 winners at No. 2, while Williams and Jake Berber (CMC) got their third win of the season together at No. 3.

CMS was similarly dominant in the singles, yielding no more than six games at any one position. Katzman improved his singles record to 21-2 overall and 15-0 in dual matches at the top spot. Gordy won his fifth straight, again at the No. 2 position, and is now 11-3 in singles dual match play this spring. Meister stayed undefeated at 8-0 without the loss of a set in dual match play, with his win at No. 3. Burney added his fourth win of the day at No. 4, while Williams improved to 6-0, also without the loss of a set, in dual match play, at No. 5. Senior Avinash Vemuri (CMC) completed the shutout for the Stags, winning his fifth match of the spring at No. 6.

With the win over Whittier, head coach Paul Settles becomes CMS men's tennis' leader in career coaching victories, surpassing Hall of Fame Coach Hank Krieger's mark of 407.

Next up for the Stags is a home contest against No. 22 Redlands on Friday, April 12 at 3 PM. Then on Saturday, April 13, CMS will host Occidental and California Marymount at 10 AM and 3 PM.

#4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. #20 Gustavus Adolphus (2)
April 6, 2019 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Patrick Whaling / Chase Johnson (GAC) def. Jack Katzman / Robert Liu (CMS) 8-3
2. Yassine Derbani / Nick Aney (GAC) def. Julian Gordy / Jake Williams (CMS) 8-7(3)
3. Oscar Burney / Daniel Park (CMS) def. Michael O'Neil / Xavier Sanga (GAC) 8-0

Singles
1. Jack Katzman (CMS) def. Patrick Whaling (GAC) 6-3, 6-2
2. Julian Gordy (CMS) def. Chase Johnson (GAC) 6-2, 6-2
3. Robert Liu (CMS) def. Yassine Derbani (GAC) 6-4, 6-1
4. Nic Meister (CMS) def. Michael O'Neil (GAC) 6-3, 6-1
5. Oscar Burney (CMS) def. Nick Aney (GAC) 6-2, 7-6(3)
6. Casey Morris (CMS) def. Indraneel Raut (GAC) 6-3, 3-6, (10-8)

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

#4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. Whittier (0)
April 6, 2019 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Jack Katzman / Robert Liu (CMS) def. Thomas Koszowski / Maxwell Koszowski (Whittier) 8-5
2. Julian Gordy / Oscar Burney (CMS) def. Pim Van Der Veer / Matthew Yannuck (Whittier) 8-3
3. Jake Berber / Jake Williams (CMS) def. Chris Palacio / Jesse Eccles (Whittier) 8-4

Singles
1. Jack Katzman (CMS) def. Pim Van Der Veer (Whittier) 6-1, 6-2
2. Julian Gordy (CMS) def. Thomas Koszowski (Whittier) 6-2, 6-2
3. Nic Meister (CMS) def. Matthew Yannuck (Whittier) 6-1, 6-3
4. Oscar Burney (CMS) def. Jesse Eccles (Whittier) 6-1, 7-5
5. Jake Williams (CMS) def. Maxwell Koszowski (Whittier) 6-1, 6-1
6. Avinash Vemuri (CMS) def. Chris Palacio (Whittier) 6-1, 6-4

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