Arimilli/Martin Fall in Three Sets in ITA Cup National Championship Match

ROME, Ga. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's doubles team of Philip Martin and Nathan Arimilli took the first set in its championship match at the ITA Cup against Peter Frelinghuysen and Matthew Kandel of Williams, but the Eph duo battled back to win the second set in a tiebreaker and ended up taking the championship 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 on Saturday morning at the Rome Tennis Center.

Arimilli and Martin had a great day yesterday in straight-set sweeps over Middlebury and Emory in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and kept that momentum going in the first set on Saturday. The Stag pair broke the Williams serve twice and led 5-1, before the Ephs were able to get a hold to close to within 5-2. Martin served it out, though, as set point came on an Arimilli volley as the Stags took the one-set lead. 

Williams found its service game in the second set and kept forcing CMS to answer. The Stags trailed 5-4 and 15-40 in the second set, but Arimilli had two straight service winners to fight off two set points, to get it to deuce and they were able to get the hold for 5-5. Williams came back with a hold, and CMS was down 0-30, but Martin held on his serve to get it into a tiebreaker. With the tiebreaker level 1-1, though, Williams rattled off six straight points for the 7-1 tiebreaker win, leveling the match 1-1. 

The Ephs were up a break late in the third set and got a key hold to go up 5-3 when it looked like CMS might break back. The Stags fell behind 0-40 and fought off two match points, but Williams was able to win the third and take a 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 win. 

The loss ended a great run from Arimilli and Martin, who were competing in their first collegiate event over the past two weeks. Martin is a sophomore, but did not compete last year when the season was canceled due to the pandemic, and the duo became the first CMS rookies to reach the national finals of the ITA Cup as a duo since 2005, when Lawrence wang and Guillaume Schils finished first.