On to the Finals! CMS Men's Tennis Wins 5-4 Thriller Over Bowdoin in NCAA Semifinals
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Advik Mareedu fought off a match point in the second set and went on to earn a 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-4 win over Tristan Bradley, the No. 1 ranked singles player in the nation, to break a 4-4 tie and give the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team a 5-4 win over Bowdoin in the NCAA Division III Semifinals on Wednesday.
With the win, CMS improves to 29-3 with its 25th straight victory, and will have a chance to go for win No. 30 in the national championship match on Friday against No. 2 Chicago at 1 p.m. local time (11 a.m. Pacific).
Mareedu, who is ranked No. 2 in the nation in singles, lost in a tiebreaker in the first set to Bradley, who was the last player Mareedu lost to (6-1, 6-3 at the Stag-Hen Invitational in March, which CMS won 4-3). The second set began going Mareedu's way, as he jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Bradley responded by winning deuce points in the next four games to level the match at 4-4. Bradley added his fifth straight game and got to deuce and match point with Mareedu serving at 4-5. After a short rally, Bradley sailed a mid-court forehand just long to keep Mareedu in the match. The two players then traded service holds before Mareedu put together a dominant 7-1 tie-break win to send the match to a third set.
After a deuce point break in the third game of the final set, momentum seemed to swing back Bradley's way, as he took a 3-1 lead. At 1-3, Mareedu held at love, and then broke with a big deuce point to get back on serve at 3-3. With the score tied 4-4 and 30-30, Mareedu served two straight aces to close out the game for a 5-4 lead. Receiving at 4-5, Mareedu won the first three points on an unforced error, a backhand winner, and a double fault. After saving two match points, Bradley's second serve at 30-40 was met with another Mareedu backhand return winner to finish the match and send the Stags to the championship match.
Mareedu and Josh Kim also earned a doubles point to start the match with a dominant 8-2 win, but the Stags went into singles play down 2-1. The match went into a three-hour delay due to rain when the six singles courts had either just started their second sets, or were in the waning moments of the first set.
Upon resumption of play, Warren Pham was able to get CMS back level with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 6, getting a huge break on deuce point down 4-2 in the second set to get back on serve, and then closing out with three straight wins. Matthew Robinson gave CMS a 3-2 lead with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 3, after resuming his match up 5-4 and 40-0, needing one point to win the first set (which he earned on his second try).
Bowdoin tied the match 3-3 with a win at No. 4 singles, but Tarm Rojanasoonthon had the first of the two CMS three-set comeback wins at No. 3, fighting back from a set and a break down to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, highlighted by back-to-back deuce points to turn a 3-3 tie in the third set into a 5-3 lead, and then closing out on his serve for a 6-4 win to put CMS on the cusp of victory.
CMS will be making its ninth appearance in the national championship match, and the first since 2019, when it fell to Emory in Kalamazoo. The Stags will be trying to win their third national title, with the last coming in 2015.
#1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (5) vs. #4 Bowdoin(4)
May 22, 2024 at St. Louis, MO. (Dwight Davis Tennis Center) NCAA D3 Team Semifinals
Doubles
1. Tristan Bradley/Reid Staples (BOW) def. Ian Freer/Matthew Robinson (CMS) 8-5
2. Advik Mareedu/Josh Kim (CMS) def. Ethan Bradley/Jackson Codd (BOW) 8-2
3. Pieter Breuker/Andrew Mendelson (BOW) def. Anirudh Reddy/Warren Pham (CMS) 8-4
Singles
1. Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. Tristan Bradley (BOW) 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-4
2. Reid Staples (BOW) def. Ian Freer (CMS) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
3. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Pieter Breuker (BOW) 6-4, 6-1
4. Mark Kneiss (BOW) def. Anirudh Gupta (CMS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
5. Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) def. Ethan Bradley (BOW) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Warren Pham (CMS) def. Andrew Mendelson (BOW) 6-2, 7-5
Order of completion
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 6, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1
