CMS Men's Tennis Earns Pair of Home Wins over Whitman, Sewanee

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The fourth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team shut out Whitman in an 11 a.m. match, and then came back in the evening to pick up a 7-2 win over No. 18 Sewanee to earn a pair of Division III wins on Tuesday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. With the wins, CMS moves to 9-2 on the season.

The Stags cruised to their first win of the day by a 9-0 final over Whitman, as all six singles players won their second sets 6-0. The Stags swept the doubles with the No. 2 and No. 3 pairs teaming up for the first time this spring. Jack Katzman and Robert Liu were 8-2 winners at No. 1, while the first-time teams of Matthew Robinson and Ethan Carroll and Michael Hao and Christopher Li won 8-3 and 8-5 at the second and third doubles spots respectively. Robinson has now won nine straight dual matches with four different partners, after dropping his first doubles dual match at USC on January 20.

In singles, Liu was the first to the finish line with a 6-0, 6-0 win to make it a 4-0 CMS lead. Hao provided the clinch at No. 4 with a 6-2, 6-0 win. Carroll became the second Stag with a clean sheet at No. 3. Morgan Schilling earned a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 5, while Katzman and Ian Habbestad closed out the Stags' scoring with straight set wins at No. 2 and No. 6. 

Eighteenth ranked Sewanee provided more resisitance to CMS, as the Stags trailed early on all three doubles courts. Hao and Li came back from an early 3-1 deficit to take an 8-4 win at No. 3, while Robinson and Carroll earned their second win on  the day by breaking serve at 6-7, for an 8-6 win at No. 2. Liu and Schilling came back from a 7-4 deficit to force a tie-break at 7-7, and then came back from 4-0 down in the tiebreaker to equalize at 4-all, but they ended up falling 7-4 as Sewanee was able to salvage the final doubles point. 

CMS was able to earn a quick clinch by dominating the top half of the ladder, as Robinson (6-0, 6-3 at No. 2) and Li (6-3, 6-0 at No. 3) won their matches seconds apart to make it a 4-1 CMS lead. Liu then provided the clinch with a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 1. 

Hao capped off a 4-0 day with a 7-6, 6-1 win at No. 5 to give CMS its sixth point, and Habbestad earned his second singles win of the day at No. 6 with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Carroll nearly made it a singles sweep, but couldn't quite complete his comeback by converting on any of his five match points in the deciding match tie-break at the No. 4 position.

CMS will be back in action this weekend when it hosts the Stag-Hen Invitational, opening up play in the quarterfinals on Friday against Gustavus Adolphus at 10 a.m.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. Whitman (0)
March 15, 2022 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Jack Katzman/Robert Liu (CMS) def. John Carter/Kai Strawn (WHIT) 8-2
2. Matthew Robinson/Ethan Carroll (CMS) def. Braeden Thomas/Noah Baker (WHIT) 8-3
3. Michael Hao/Christopher Li (CMS) def. Harshvardhan Chopra/Jack Freer (WHIT) 8-5

Singles
1. Robert Liu (CMS) def. Kai Strawn (WHIT) 6-0, 6-0
2. Jack Katzman (CMS) def. Harshvardhan Chopra (WHIT) 6-2, 6-0
3. Ethan Carroll (CMS) def. Lucas Huang (WHIT) 6-0, 6-0
4. Michael Hao (CMS) def. Aaron Yuan (WHIT) 6-2, 6-0
5. Morgan Schilling (CMS) def. Braeden Thomas (WHIT) 6-1, 6-0
6. Ian Habbestad (CMS) def. Noah Baker (WHIT) 6-4, 6-0

Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 1, 4, 3, 5, 2, 6

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. Sewanee (2)
March 15, 2022 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Peyton Erck/Quinn Wicklund (SEWANEE) def. Morgan Schilling/Robert Liu (CMS) 8-7(4)
2. Matthew Robinson/Ethan Carroll (CMS) def. Noah Holsclaw/Gil Weston (SEWANEE) 8-6
3. Michael Hao/Christopher Li (CMS) def. Gleb Ibragimov/Liam Selvido (SEWANEE) 8-4

Singles
1. Robert Liu (CMS) def. Noah Holsclaw (SEWANEE) 6-3, 6-0
2. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Ryan Olps (SEWANEE) 6-0, 6-3
3. Christopher Li (CMS) def. Matt Barnett (SEWANEE) 6-2, 6-1
4. Talman Ramsey (SEWANEE) def. Ethan Carroll (CMS) 6-4, 3-6, (13-11)
5. Michael Hao (CMS) def. Jackson Davis (SEWANEE) 7-6(2), 6-1
6. Ian Habbestad (CMS) def. Gil Weston (SEWANEE) 6-2, 6-4

Order of completion
Doubles: 3, 2, 1
Singles: 2, 3, 1, 5, 6, 4