Stags Earn Top Seed at SCIACs with Win Over #4 Cal Lu
CMS Men's Tennis closed out conference play with a 6-3 win over #4 Cal Lutheran, earning the Stags a top seed and bye in the SCIAC tournament which begins next Friday. CMS was led by senior Eric MacColl (Greenbrae, CA [pictured right]) who won at #3 singles and doubles. CMS has now won the conference regular season for the fifth consecutive year and extends its conference unbeaten streak to 47 matches.
The Stags fell behind 2-1 in matches after a doubles performance fraught with missed opportunities. Robbie Erani (So. – New York, NY) and Ronald Wu (Jr. – Los Altos, CA) were unable to stay up a break and lost a tough 8-6 decision at #1. Seniors Mikey Lim (Honolulu, HI) and Thomas Keiffer (La Jolla, CA) stayed close at #2 but failed to capitalize in the final games of an 8-6 loss at #2. MacColl and Brandon Wei (So. – Lake Oswego, OR) earned the Stags’ lone doubles point, winning their tenth of the season by an 8-5 margin.
For the second time in three key conference dual matches, the Stags needed to rebound from a 2-1 deficit after doubles. And that’s exactly what they did. Alex Johnson (Fr. – Thousand Oaks, CA) won a quick love set at #6, to become the first of four CMS players to win the first set in their matches. Johnson then evened the match at 2-2 when he completed his 6-0, 6-0 victory at the last singles position. Cal Lu then got back on top with Andrew Giuffrida’s two-set win at #1 singles against Erani, avenging his loss to Erani in the ITA West Regional championship match last October. Down 3-2, CMS got a boost from their captain Lim at #2, leveling the dual at 3 matches apiece. The Stags took their first lead of the day when MacColl rallied from a tie-break set down to win in three sets. That set the stage for either Russell Brockett (Jr. – Austin, TX) at #4 or Victor Chien (So. – Diamond Bar, CA) at #5 to clinch the win for CMS. Both Brockett and Chien led one set to love but trailed in the second set. While Chien dropped the second set at #5, Brockett was climbing back from 2-5 down, and then 0-3 in the second set tie-break. Brockett saved one set point and then converted on his second match point to seal the victory for CMS. Chien then got CMS’ sixth and final point with a 7-5 third set win.
CMS is now 17-4 overall and 6-0 in conference play. The Stags open up the SCIAC tournament on Friday as the #1 seed, against either #4 seed Pomona-Pitzer or #5 seed Occidental, who face off against one another at 9:30 AM. CMS will play at 2:00 PM at Pomona-Pitzer (against Pomona-Pitzer) or the Upland Tennis Club (against Occidental). The SCIAC tournament’s final rounds will be played on Saturday at 10:00 AM, with CMS playing at the Upland Tennis Club.
Video Highlights: Alex Johnson at #6 Singles
#5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6 vs #4 Cal
Lutheran 3
April 10, 2010 at Claremont, Calif. (Biszantz Family
Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Andrew Giuffrida / Nick Ballou (CLU) def. Robbie Erani / Ronald
Wu (CMS) 8-6
2. Ryan Lassila / John Karsant (CLU) def. Mikey Lim / Thomas
Keiffer (CMS) 8-6
3. Eric MacColl / Brandon Wei (CMS) def. Jordan Culpepper / Ray
Worley (CLU) 8-5
Singles
1. Andrew Giuffrida (CLU) def. Robbie Erani (CMS) 6-3,
6-2
2. Mikey Lim (CMS) def. Nick Ballou (CLU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Eric MacColl (CMS) def. Ryan Lassila (CLU) 6-7 (5), 6-1,
6-2
4. Russell Brockett (CMS) def. Ray Worley (CLU) 6-2, 7-6 (7)
5. Victor Chien (CMS) def. John Karsant (CLU) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
6. Alex Johnson (CMS) def. Justin Wilson (CLU) 6-0, 6-0
Order of
completion
Doubles: 3, 2, 1
Singles: 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5