Nikolai Parodi Ends Senior Season Ranked No. 1 in Division III for CMS Men's Tennis

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its final Division III rankings for the 2019-20 season on Friday afternoon, and senior Nikolai Parodi capped off his CMS career as the No. 1 ranked singles player in the nation.

Parodi and first-year Ian Freer were also the No. 3 ranked doubles team in the final rankings, while junior Jack Katzman was ranked No. 5 in singles. The Stags also had sophomore Nic Meister crack the national rankings, earning a No. 29 ranking.

Parodi finished his carer with a 191-64 combined singles and doubles record, which ranks him No. 7 in program history in total wins despite having his senior season cut short. He earned ITA National Player of the Week honors this season after tallying a perfect record at the ITA Indoor Nationals. In his career, he was All-American six times, taking home the honor all three seasons in both singles and doubles, and was the SCIAC Player of the Year all three seasons as well. 

Katzman joined Parodi in finishing in the top five in the nation for the third straight season. He was the national runner-up in singles as a first-year in 2018, and finished with an impressive 29-3 singles record as a sophomore last year while helping CMS to a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division III Championships. He earned All-America honors in singles this fall, reaching the ITA West Regional finals (where he fell to Parodi) and then advancing to the ITA Cup Semifinals. 

Meister capped off his sophomore season by reaching the quarterfinals of the ITA West Regionals in both singles and doubles. A year ago, he moved into the CMS starting line-up in midseason and finished 20-3 overall, picking up the clincher in the NCAA semifinals against Chicago and earning a win against Emory in the national championship match. He was the SCIAC Player of the Week this season after opening up the spring season with a 3-0 record on the Stags' trip to Hawaii, with wins over Pacific (Ore.), Trinity (Texas) and Hawaii (Pacific). 

Freer joined Parodi on the CMS No. 1 doubles team as a first-year and had an 11-3 record, as well as a 10-3 record in singles. He reached the semifinals of the ITA West Regionals in singles before falling to Katzman in three sets, and joined Parodi to win at No. 1 doubles in the ITA Indoor Finals against Emory 8-7 (7-2 in the tiebreaker). 

CMS was ranked No. 2 in the country at the conclusion of spring sports in March, standing at 14-1 overall.