Men’s Tennis Wins Two on the Road

CMS Men’s Tennis won at Cal Lutheran and Westmont on Saturday, moving to 4-0 on the season and extending their SCIAC unbeaten streak to thirty-two matches. Ronald Wu (So. – Los Altos, CA) and Mike Starr (Jr. – San Ramon, CA) [pictured right] won two matches at #2 doubles to lead the Stags.

CMS fielded eleven (11) different singles players in the double-header, dropping only one singles contest on the day. Playing at the new Paulson Tennis Center at Cal Lutheran, the Stags opened 2009 SCIAC play dropping two of three doubles matches. Starr and Wu were instrumental in keeping CMS close, as the pair rallied from a 6-2 deficit to earn the Stags their only doubles point of the morning. In the singles however, CMS came on strong to win at all six positions without dropping a set. Senior captain Lawrence Wang (Orange, CA) played focused, controlled tennis at #1, and earned a 6-3, 6-2 victory over UNLV transfer Andrew Giuffrida. Junior Eric MacColl (Greenbrae, CA) returned to action with a confident 6-2, 6-2 win at #5 singles. Starr was the first Stag to win in singles, defeating 2008 All-SCIAC selection Paul Wetterholm 6-1, 6-1 at #2.

In the afternoon match against NAIA opponent Westmont College, the Stags earned a doubles sweep to take a 3-0 lead heading into the singles. Starr and Wu again led CMS with an 8-3 win at #2. MacColl and partner Robbie Erani (New York, NY) earned CMS their first point with an 8-2 win at #3. In the singles, CMS won in straight sets at the 3-6 positions, with freshmen Victor Chien (Diamond Bar, CA) and Ari Zyskind (Concord, MA) putting in impressive performances at #3 and #6 respectively. With the match decided, sophomore Russell Brockett (Austin, TX) provided his usual brand of excitement, coming back from an 0-6 first set loss to win the last two sets 6-4, 7-6(4) in fading light. Brockett served for the match at 5-4 in the third set and was broken, but then closed out the win in a decisive tie-break played at five-all due to diminished light.