No. 5 Athenas topple No. 2 Williams 6-3
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team came up with the second win this season against a higher ranked opponent in the 6-3 victory over No. 2 Williams College on Saturday afternoon. The Athenas (13-0) last beat Williams (6-3) on March 23, 2013 and since then, the Ephs have won two National Championships.
"We carried a lot of momentum over from doubles and then posted a number of strong first sets in singles," said head coach Dave Schwarz. "They're a very successful program and while it's a big win for us, we need to keep getting better every day."
Senior Katie Kuosman (CMC) and freshman Catherine Allen (SC) went up against Leah Bush and Mia Gancayco from Williams at No. 2 doubles. Each team held serve initially for the 1-1 tie but then Allen and Kuosman went on a tear to take the next seven games to win it 8-1. Allen's play was imbued with confidence and fueled the entire team.
Junior Lindsay Brown (CMC) and freshman Nicole Tan (CMC) held serve and then broke Williams' to go up 3-0. The No.16 team of Hannah Atkinson and Chloe Henderson got one point back at 4-1 but were unable to pull within reach of Brown and Tan as the Athenas won 8-2.
The No. 3 doubles pair of junior Kyla Scott (HMC) and freshman Madison Shea (CMC) put together a strong performance against Emily Zheng and Julia Cancio, but ultimately fell 8-5 to give Williams its first point for the team score. The match consisted of many long rallies from the baseline before one team or the other was able to put it away with a volley at the net.
Going into singles, CMS had the 2-1 advantage. Brown continued her undefeated singles record in the spring season with the first singles win for CMS. The junior got stronger as the match went on, winning easily 6-3, 6-0. Next, Allen earned the 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 3 to bring the Athenas within one point of clinching the match.
Shortly thereafter, Tan delivered the winning point with the seemingly effortless 6-1, 6-2 win over Myong.
Williams picked up another point with the gutsy win by Bush at No.1 over Scott. The pair split sets and then went deep into a tiebreaker for the eventual 15-13 win for the Ephs. Further down the courts, Cancio won her match tiebreaker 10-6 after coming back in the second set to take Kuosman.
The final match to finish up was sophomore Jessie Cruz (CMC) at No. 4 facing a ranked opponent, Atkinson, who played in the No. 1 singles team. Cruz and Atkinson were deadlocked at 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker. After Cruz won it 10-8, the Athena sophomore legged out the eventual 6-4 win in the second set.
CMS will take a quick break before facing three more formidable foes next week in No. 20 MIT, No. 7 Middlebury and No. 26 Whitman. The Athenas first host the Engineers on Wednesday, March 29 at 6 p.m.
By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director
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