Fourth-Ranked CMS Women's Tennis Takes 7-2 Win over No. 9 Amherst in Top-Ten Battle

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The fourth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis swept doubles to take command of the match early and earned a 7-2 win over No. 9 Amherst in a battle between top-10 teams at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Wednesday.

With the win, CMS moves to 9-2 on the season, including another top-10 win over No. 2 Emory last week, while Amherst slips to 1-3 with all three losses coming to top 10 teams (No. 8 Sewanee, No. 3 Pomona-Pitzer, No. 4 CMS). 

CMS appeared to be heading to a tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles, as Alisha Chulani and Nikolina Batoshvili led 7-6 but trailed 40-0 as the Mammoths were on the verge of tying it 7-7. However, Chulani and Batoshvili rattled off five points in a row to come all the way back to win the game and take the match, giving the Athenas a 3-0 lead heading into singles. 

Sarah Bahsoun and Sena Selby earned the first point with an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles, and Sydney Lee and Gabby Lee followed with the same score to make it 2-0. Sydney Lee then rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles to make it a 4-0 lead. 

CMS earned the clinch at No. 6, where Bahsoun finished off a 6-0, 6-3 win after multiple deuces before closing out with three straight points to give CMS its fifth point and a 5-1 lead. Batoshvili added a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 for the sixth point, and Audrey Yoon won a tight one 7-6, 7-5 at No. 5, winning the tiebreaker in the first set 7-2 and taking the last three games in the second set to come back from 5-4 down to win. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow for a doubleheader, facing No. 8 Sewanee at 10 a.m. and No. 16 Bowdoin at 2 p.m.