CMS Men's Tennis Defeats Occidental, Falls to APU in Friday Road Split

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team split a pair of road matches on Friday, improving to 5-0 in SCIAC with an 8-1 win over Occidental and then falling to Division II Azusa Pacific 4-1.  

The split moves CMS to 20-6 overall on the season, although only two defeats have come to Division III schools (Chicago and WashU). The others have come to schools from Division I (USC, UC Riverside), Division II (Azusa Pacific) or NAIA (Biola).

In the Occidental match, CMS took a 3-0 lead after doubles, with Matthew Robinson and Ethan Carroll earning the first point with an 8-0 win at No. 3. Ian Freer and Robert Liu followed by erasing a 2-0 deficit and winning eight straight games at No. 2, and Philip Martin and Nathan Arimilli capped off the sweep with an 8-5 win at No. 1.

Robinson was the first player to finish in singles, taking a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1, and Carroll followed with the clincher at No. 4, winning 6-3, 6-1. Michael Hao added a straight-set win at No. 3 (6-2, 6-4), while Jack Katzman (6-1, 5-7, 1-0) and Daniel Blackman (6-2, 3-6, 7-5) earned three-set wins at No. 2 and No. 6, respectively, with Katzman winning his third-set tiebreaker 10-7.

The Azusa Pacific match was played with doubles counting as one point, and the Cougars were able to come away with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to clinch the 1-0 lead heading into singles.

The Cougars took the first set on five of the six singles courts, but Ian Habbestad was the one exception at No. 6, as he gave a strong performance in a straight-set win (6-2, 6-3) to cut the Azusa Pacific lead to 3-1. The Stags then put up a strong fight on the last three courts, as Carroll earned a split at No. 3 with a 6-1 win in the second set, and Martin prevailed 6-4 in a tight second set at No. 1 to force his match into a third.   

Ultimately, the dual pivoted at the No. 5 singles position, where Arimilli served  at 5-3 but couldn't close out the first set. Had he won the first set, it seemed likely that both Martin and Carroll would have completed and won their matches at No. 1 and No. 3, which would have gotten the Stags even at 3-all in matches. Instead, Velicki won ten of the last 12 games and took a 7-5, 6-2 win for the clincher, putting the Cougars ahead 4-1. Because the match was played to the Division II "clinch / clinch" format, Martin's and Carroll's matches were abandoned, with Martin leading 3-6, 6-4, 2-0 and Carroll at 4-6, 6-1, 4-1 and game point.

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it hosts Pomona-Pitzer at 6 p.m.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (8) vs. Occidental (1)
April 15, 2022 at Eagle Rock, CA. (McKinnon Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Nathan Arimilli/Philip Martin (CMS) def. Matthew O'Connor/Seth Lipe (OXY) 8-5
2. Ian Freer/Robert Liu (CMS) def. Brett Miller/David Zhang (OXY) 8-2
3. Ethan Carroll/Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Ridley Potter/Zach Haas (OXY) 8-0

Singles
1. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Matthew O'Connor (OXY) 6-2, 6-1
2. Jack Katzman (CMS) def. Sam Coan (OXY) 6-1, 5-7, (10-7)
3. Michael Hao (CMS) def. David Zhang (OXY) 6-2, 6-4
4. Ethan Carroll (CMS) def. Zach Haas (OXY) 6-3, 6-1
5. Seth Lipe (OXY) def. Morgan Schilling (CMS) 6-4, 5-7, (10-7)
6. Daniel Blackman (CMS) def. Brett Miller (OXY) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5

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

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (1) vs. Azusa Pacific (4)
April 15, 2022 at Azusa, CA. (Munson and Bavougian Tennis Complex)

Doubles
1. Leyton Bohren/Ryan Nuno (APU) vs. Nathan Arimilli/Philip Martin (CMS) 4-2, unfinished
2. Miha Velicki/Elias Emilio Walter (APU) def. Ian Freer/Robert Liu (CMS) 6-0
3. Ethan Smith/Sam Sippel (APU) def. Ethan Carroll/Matthew Robinson (CMS) 6-1

Singles
1. Philip Martin (CMS) vs Ryan Nuno (APU) 3-6, 6-4, 2-0 unfinished
2. Sam Sippel (APU) def. Christopher Li (CMS) 6-3, 6-2
3. Ethan Carroll (CMS) vs. Leyton Bohren (APU) 4-6, 6-1, 4-1 unfinished
4. Elias Emilio Walter (APU) def. Michael Hao (CMS) 6-3, 6-2
5. Miha Velicki (APU) def. Nathan Arimilli (CMS) 7-5, 6-2
6.Ian Habbestad (CMS) def. Ivan Hornung (APU) 6-2, 6-3

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