Athenas earn seventh straight SCIAC Championship
REDLANDS, Calif. – In a marathon match that was delayed multiple times by rain, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team emerged as the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champions with the 5-4 win over Pomona-Pitzer. With the 2017 conference title, the Athenas earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This marks the program's 19th SCIAC Championship and seventh consecutive.
With inclement weather looming in future, the matches began at 9 a.m. at the host, the University of Redlands' courts. CMS matched up with Caltech initially and quickly wrapped up the 5-0 sweep.
The Athenas had little trouble in the doubles as junior Lindsay Brown (CMC) and freshman Nicole Tan (CMC) easily swept through their No. 1 match with the score of 8-0. No. 2 doubles pair of senior Katie Kuosman (CMC) and freshman Catherine Allen (SC) and No. 3 junior Kyla Scott (HMC) and freshman Madison Shea (CMC) followed suit with 8-0 sweeps to give CMS a 3-0 lead. Caltech forfeited its No. 2 singles match, awarding CMS an extra point and freshman Ana Bryan-Ajania (SC) clinched the match quickly with a pair of 6-1 sets in No. 5 singles.
The Athenas faced some tough competition in their doubles matches against Pomona-Pitzer as the Sagehens looked sharper than they did in their last meeting. Brown and Tan earned the Athenas their first team point after winning their doubles match 8-2, but the other two pairs were in for a battle. Scott and Shea found themselves behind 5-2, but rallied back to get within two. However, the Sagehens held on to win No. 3 doubles 8-6. Kuosman and Allen trailed by one, but could not break the hump as they dropped No. 2 doubles 8-4.
Brown got the first win from court No. 5 with the 6-2, 6-1 win. Because the match was only played on five courts, Kuosman began her No. 6 singles match once Brown had finished. Shortly thereafter, Allen at No. 3 won 6-1, 6-4 to give CMS the 3-2 lead over Pomona-Pitzer.
At No. 1, Scott faced a stout opponent in Caroline Casper and ended up losing 7-5, 6-3. With the loss there, Pomona-Pitzer tied up the match 3-3. Tan regained the lead for the Athenas with the 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 win in three sets. Tan created space for herself in the third set and ended up winning it with a big 6-0 score. The Sagehens quickly countered Tan's victory with a win at No. 4 singles. Sophomore Jessie Cruz (CMC) started off strong but then dropped the second and third sets 6-4, 6-1.
With the score tied 4-4, all eyes turned to Kuosman and Emily Chen to decide the match. Kuosman won the first set 7-5 and the gutted out the second to win it 6-3. Chen saved two match points before Kuosman was able to put it away for the match win and the 2017 SCIAC Championship.
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