Athenas capture fourth at NCAA Division III Tennis Championships
MASON, Ohio – For the second time in three seasons (2013 and 2015), the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team has finished in fourth place at the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships. CMS lost 5-1 to Amherst in the third place match on May 20 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, but still secured a tie for the best finish in program history. Just like in 2013, CMS lost to a tough Amherst squad in the third place match.
CMS' team season comes to a close with a 25-3 record, the second-highest win total in program history, second only to last season's 31 wins.
Doubles were extremely close with both teams having the opportunity to lead after doubles. Amherst had the opportunity to lead 3-0 and CMS had its own chances to take a 2-1 lead. In the end, Amherst ended up leading 2-1 after doubles. Safy Aly and Sarah Monteagudo of Amherst won No. 3 doubles 8-3 over freshmen Lindsay Brown (CMC) and Lauren Livingston (CMC) for the first doubles point.
Then in a tiebreaker, junior Caroline Ward (CMC) and sophomore Katie Kuosman (CMC) defeated Vickie Ip and Sue Ghosh in No. 1 doubles, 9-8 (7-1). After trailing at times at No. 3 doubles, senior Sarah Kukino (CMC) and freshman Kyla Scott (HMC) nearly gave CMS a 2-1 lead heading into singles. However, Jackie Calla and Maddy Sung hung on for a 9-7 win.
In singles, Amherst took No. 4, 2 and 3 singles in straight sets for the overall win. On the three courts that did not finish, CMS led in the fifth and sixth positions. Freshman Bria Smith (CMC) led 6-3, 5-2 for CMS in her No. 6 singles match, but came up just minutes short from closing out the win when Amherst ended that match with a win at No. 3 singles.
While the team season is over, Ward and Kuosman are both participating in the singles and doubles NCAA Division III Championships May 21-23, also in Mason, Ohio.
Draws and brackets for the singles and doubles championships can be found here.
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