Top-Ranked CMS Men's Tennis Hosts NCAA Regional on Friday and Saturday
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The top-ranked CMS men's tennis team will once again serve as a host for an NCAA Division III regional, as it welcomes in Trinity, UT Dallas and Whitman for a four-team regional on Friday and Saturday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
CMS will open play on Friday against UT Dallas in one of two regional semifinals, while Trinity and Whitman will meet in the other. The two winners will advance to the finals on Saturday to try to earn the regional championship and advance to the eight-team nationals.
The Stags will be trying to make their way to the national quarterfinals for the tenth straight season, which will be held in Kalamazoo, Michigan this year. CMS was last eliminated in the regionals in 2009 by UC Santa Cruz, and has since gone on to win one national championship in 2015 and earn three runner-up finishes, most recently in 2017, while serving as a regional host every year since 2012.
A year ago, CMS won the regional finals 5-1 over Trinity, with current players Nikolai Parodi, Julian Gordy and Daniel Park picking up singles wins at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively, to give the Stags the clinch. Current sophomore Jack Katzman was also up 6-0, 5-4 at No. 2 when the match was called. The Stags also defeated Trinity in the 2017 regional finals as well.
CMS comes into the NCAA Tournament with a 29-1 record on the year, suffering its only loss at Amherst on the road on March 21 (5-4). Since then, the Stags have rattled off 16 straight wins, ending with 5-0 sweeps of Caltech and Pomona-Pitzer in the SCIAC Tournament to earn the league's automatic bid.
The Stags moved into the No. 1 spot after a big weekend when it knocked off No. 1 Chicago and No. 2 Middlebury on successive days back on March 29-30. CMS also defeated then No. 5 Williams earlier in the week, giving it three top-five wins in the span of five days. Overall, CMS is 17-1 against nationally ranked teams, and 5-1 against teams in the top 10 (including wins over Wesleyan and Bowdoin as well).
To view the complete NCAA Division III Men's Tennis bracket, head to the following link:
NCAA.com