Men's Tennis Gets By Gustavus
CMS Stags Tennis won its fourth straight against a ranked Division III opponent, defeating #17 Gustavus Adolphus 7-2 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Tuesday. Freshman Skyler Butts (Santa Ana, CA) helped ignite a comeback win at #2 doubles and then earned the dual match clinching win at #5 singles to lead the Stags to their 16th victory of the spring.
In Gustavus' first day of outdoor competition on a Southern California road trip, the Gusties gave CMS all they could handle in doubles. Sophomores Warren Wood (Del Mar, CA) and Joe Dorn (Washington D.C.) faced the 2012 NCAA finalists and suffered a rare loss at the #1 position to put the Gusties up 1-0. Nikolas Marino (So. - San Diego, CA) and Zhenya Pereverzin (Jr. - Clackamas, OR), playing for the second time together in ten days, evened the match with their 8-4 win at #3. With Butts and junior captain Neel Kotrappa (La Verne, CA) looking to put the Stags up for good, CMS' #2 pair had to break, hold, and break again to win the final three games and squeak out a 9-7 victory.
In the singles, Marino was an easy winner at #3, while Wood improved his record to 17-3 at the #1 spot with a 6-0, 6-1 thrashing that put the Stags up 4-1 in matches. Butts' tough 6-4, 7-6(3) at #5 sealed the victory for CMS, while the final three matches all extended to third sets. Senior Alex Lane (Claremont, CA) extended his win streak to nine, pulling away with a 6-1 final set victory. Fellow senior Alex Johnson (Thousand Oaks, CA) fought back from a slow start to win the final two sets and CMS' seventh and final point of the afternoon.
Next up for CMS is a road contest this Friday, April 5 at 2:00 PM at #4 Cal Lutheran, a match to determine sole possession of first place in SCIAC and the top ranking in the west. The Stags will then return home on Saturday to face #11 Redlands at 4:00 PM in a match that will be streamed live.
#1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. #17
Gustavus Adolphus (2)
April 2, 2013 at Claremont, CA (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Amrik Donkena / Mya Smith-Dennis (GAC) def. Warren
Wood / Joe
Dorn (CMS) 8-4
2. Neel
Kotrappa / Skyler
Butts (CMS) def. Tyler Johnson / Grant Leisner (GAC) 9-7
3. Nikolas
Marino / Zhenya
Pereverzin (CMS) def. Joey MacGibbon / Bradley Entwistle
(GAC) 8-4
Singles
1. Warren Wood (CMS) def. Amrik Donkena (GAC) 6-0, 6-1
2. Mya Smith-Dennis (GAC) def. Joe Dorn (CMS) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
3. Nikolas Marino (CMS) def. Juan Luis Chu (GAC) 6-2, 6-1
4. Alex Lane
(CMS) def. Grant Leisner (GAC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
5. Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Joey MacGibbon (GAC) 6-4, 7-6(3)
6. Alex
Johnson (CMS) def. Bradley Entwistle (GAC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Order of
completion
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 3, 1, 5, 4, 2, 6