Nathan Arimilli (l) and Philip Martin (r) advanced through to the quarterfinals in doubles
Nathan Arimilli (l) and Philip Martin (r) advanced through to the quarterfinals in doubles
Posted: Oct 14, 2021

Martin/Arimilli Advance to ITA Cup Quarterfinals for CMS Men's Tennis

ROME, Ga. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis doubles team of Philip Martin and Nathan Arimilli took a quick 6-4, 6-2 win in its Round of 16 match at the ITA Cup Division III Championships at the Rome Tennis Center on Thursday and will advance through to Friday's quarterfinal round.

Robert Liu also advanced to the ITA Cup singles quarterfinals on Thursday morning with an opening-round 6-2, 6-3 win over Luke Lemaitre of George Fox, but then fell in his second match of the day in a hard-fought 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 defeat to Stan Morris of Middlebury, who was a finalist at the ITA Cup in 2019 the last time it was held, edging current Stag Jack Katzman in the semifinals. Ethan Carroll also dropped his opening match to third-seeded Chase Cohen of Williams. 

Martin and Arimilli were victorious in straight sets over Nyathi Motlojoa and Max Loen of Luther, after nearly winning the ITA West Regionals against Pomona-Pitzer's Jansen Comadena and Owen Kelley team before falling 11-9 in a third-set tiebreaker. Comadena and Kelley almost advanced to face the Stags in a rematch, but fell in three sets to the fourth-seed of Aidan Harris and Noah Laber from Middlebury. 

The Stags doubles team will face Harris and Laber tomorrow morning at 12:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Pacific), with the winner staying on to play in the semifinals at 4 p.m. against the winner between Andrew Esses and Sahil Raina of Emory and Aney and Budde of Gustavus Adolphus, who defeated top-seeded Will Leach and Luke Lemaitre of George Fox. 

Liu will compete in the consolation singles bracket on Friday morning, taking on the top seed, James Hopper of Case Western, who was upset in the quarterfinals. Carroll will play against Cole Lindwall of Wisconsin-Whitewater in his consolation match. 

The championship doubles match will be held on Saturday, with the winner of that one moving on to compete in the ITA Cup Small College Championships against the doubles winners from the NCAA Division II, NAIA and NJCAA tournaments.