CMS Women's Tennis Doubles Team Ranked No. 1 in Nation by ITA

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's doubles team of junior Catherine Allen and sophomore Caroline Cox was rated No. 1 in the nation in the first rankings of the 2018-19 season released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association this week.

Allen and Cox earned the No. 1 ranking by capturing the doubles championship at the ITA Cup nationals in October, defeating Carnegie Mellon's Melissa Strome and Danna Taylor 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the finale in Rome, Georgia. The duo earned its way to the nationals by rolling to the ITA West Region Championship with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer, and then moved on to the finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over NYU in the national quarterfinals and a 6-0, 7-6 win over Emory in the semifinals.

Both doubles players were also key parts of last year's NCAA Division III national title team for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, each picking up singles wins in a 5-4 win over Emory in the championship match last May at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont. 

In addition to the No. 1 ranking for the doubles team, CMS also had three singles players ranked in the national top 40 in the initial rankings. Allen came in at No. 26, while freshman Sydney Lee was No. 37 and sophomore Rebecca Berger was listed at No. 38. Junior Nicole Tan also ended last year ranked No. 11, but wasn't included in this year's rankings since she is studying abroad in the fall and did not take part in the ITA fall tournaments. 

CMS will be back in action in the spring semester with four matches on the weekend of Feb. 8-10, when it hosts Idaho State on Friday, Feb. 8, travels to Caltech and Occidental on Feb. 9, and returns home to face UC San Diego on Sunday, Feb. 10. 

To view the complete list of ITA rankings, go to the following link:

ITA Division IIII Women's Tennis rankings