Doubles sweep gives Athenas edge over MIT
CLAREMONT, Calif. – On Wednesday evening, the No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (14-0) women's tennis team beat No. 20 MIT (11-3) to the tune of 6-3 in a marathon match. The Athenas took an early 3-0 lead after doubles but were then challenged by the persistent Engineers in singles play.
At No. 3, junior Kyla Scott (HMC) and sophomore Jessie Cruz (CMC) wrapped up their doubles match first, winning 8-4. Next to them on court two was senior Katie Kuosman (CMC) and freshman Catherine Allen (SC) playing against Sonya Das and Serena Le. Allen put away the match with a volley at the net to give CMS its second team point.
The most contentious doubles match was played on court No. 1. Junior Lindsay Brown (CMC) and freshman Madison Shea (CMC) found themselves down 5-2 to the pair of Dora Tzeng and Kelly Zhu. Brown and Shea fought their way back into the match, aided by a pair of breaks to tie up the game 6-6. Ultimately, the Athenas broke Tzeng's serve again and then won on Brown's serve, 8-6.
The singles lineup brought a handful of fresh faces onto the courts. Finishing first was Cruz at No. 2 with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Zhu. Then, freshman Lauren Yamagami (CMC) took an early lead and then held on for another straight set victory at 6-1, 6-3 that clinched the win for the Athenas.
The Engineers earned two points back with wins at No. 3 as Das took a set tiebreaker 7-3 after Kuosman had fought back in the second. The unconventional serving Tzeng eventually got the best of Scott at No.1. Scott went down 5-0 in the second but rattled off five games in a row to tie it up 5-5. Tzeng ended up winning the second set 7-5 and then the tiebreaker, 10-6 for MIT's second team point.
Ana Bryan-Ajania (SC) also won in straight sets on court No. 5: 6-2, 6-1. The last point was a long rally that Bryan-Ajania finally forced her opponent to hit it just wide to her left for the win.
The final team point of the night came down to the No. 4 players. Junior Bria Smith (CMC) won first set easily at 6-1, but then then went down 2-0 to start the second. She battled back to tie up the set at 5-5 but then lost in the set tiebreaker 7-2. The pair duked it out in the match tiebreaker until Li was finally able to earn the 16-14 advantage for the 6-3 final team score.
The Athenas play host to the No. 7 Middlebury (2-2) on Friday, March 31 at 11:30 a.m.at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director
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