CMS Men's Tennis Picks up Two Home Wins over Whittier, Brandeis

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The fifth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team earned a 5-4 win over Whittier in its SCIAC opener, and added a 7-2 win over Brandeis on Sunday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.

With the win, the Stags move to 4-0 on the young season, and 1-0 in the SCIAC. Whittier falls to 1-3, while Brandeis suffers its first loss and drops to 2-1. 

The Whittier score looked close but the outcome was never in any question, as the Stags took a 2-1 lead after doubles and then won three quick singles decisions. Ian Freer earned a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles, Morgan Schilling won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6, and Warren Pham picked up the decider with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 4. 

Whittier won all three closely contested matches after the team win was clinched, including a 1-6, 7-6(6), (12-10) win for Luuk Van Den Hoek at No. 5 and a 5-7, 7-6(4), (10-4) win for Prayag Ahire at No. 2. Luca De Bona also earned a first-set tiebreaker win in a 7-6, 6-3 win at No. 4. 

The two doubles wins for CMS were also never in doubt, as Advik Mareedu and Christian Settles won 8-2 at No. 1, and Nathan Arimilli and Christopher Li won 8-2 at No. 3. 

CMS faced a tougher challenge on paper in the evening session against Brandeis, ranked No. 27 nationally. The Judges threatened to take the lead after doubles, taking the first decision at No. 2 and pushing into a tiebreaker at No. 1. Settles and Matthew Robinson relinquished a 5-1 lead at the top spot, before finding themselves down a match point at 6-7 in the tie-break. They answered with three consecutive points - two on Robinson's serve, and then a backhand return laser from Settles to close out the victory - giving CMS a 2-1 lead heading into singles. 

Freer started things off with his second dominant straight set singles win of the day, winning 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 to make it a 3-1 lead. Mareedu improved to 12-0 in singles with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 and Li picked up the clinch at No. 2 with a 6-4, 6-0 win. Robinson served for the match at 5-4 in the second set at No. 3, but needed a second-set tiebreaker to give the Stags their sixth point. Stags' captain Michael Hao added CMS' seventh point at No. 4 singles, coming back from 2-5 down in the first set to secure a 7-5, 6-3 win. The only singles match to extend to a third set match tie-break was at No. 6, where the Judges' Chen Liang was able to earn a 7-5, 3-6, (10-0) victory. 

CMS returns to action next Friday when it travels to the ITA D3 Indoor Team Championships in St. Peter. Seeded No. 3 in the tournament, CMS will face No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer in the first round at 9:00 AM PST on February 24.

#5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (5) vs. Whittier (4)
February 19, 2023 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Advik Mareedu/Christian Settles (CMS) def. Spencer Cinco/Ahmed Amer (WHIT) 8-2
2. Kieran Carroll/Luca De Bona (WHIT) def. Ian Freer/Matthew Robinson (CMS) 8-5
3. Nathan Arimilli/Christopher Li (CMS) def. Prayag Ahire/Luuk van den Hoek (WHIT) 8-2

Singles
1. Ian Freer (CMS) def. Spencer Cinco (WHIT) 6-0, 6-3
2. Prayag Ahire (WHIT) def. Christian Settles (CMS) 5-7, 7-6(4), (10-4)
3. Warren Pham (CMS) def. Kieran Carroll (WHIT) 6-3, 6-2
4. Luca De Bona (WHIT) def. Ian Habbestad (CMS) 7-6(5), 6-3
5. Luuk van den Hoek (WHIT) def. Daniel Blackman (CMS) 1-6, 7-6(6), (12-10)
6. Morgan Schilling (CMS) def. Luca Braan (WHIT) 6-2, 6-2

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

#5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. #27 Brandeis (2)
February 19, 2023 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1.#6 Christian Settles/Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Tommy Harrison/Dylan Walters (BRAN) 8-7(7)
2. Hunter Levine/Simon Kauppila (BRAN) def. Ian Freer/Advik Mareedu (CMS) 8-4
3. Christopher Li/Nathan Arimilli (CMS) def. Alex Merson/Aryan Nijhawan (BRAN) 8-5

Singles
1. #1 Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. Dylan Walters (BRAN) 6-1, 6-4
2. Christopher Li (CMS) def. Tommy Harrison (BRAN) 6-4, 6-0
3. #38 Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Simon Kauppila (BRAN) 6-3, 7-6(5)
4. #29 Michael Hao (CMS) def. Alex Merson (BRAN) 7-5, 6-3
5. Ian Freer (CMS) def. Hunter Levine (BRAN) 6-2, 6-1
6. Chen Liang (BRAN) def. Nathan Arimilli (CMS) 7-5, 3-6, (10-0)

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