CMS Men's Tennis Falls to Fifth-Ranked Tufts
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The third-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team took a 2-1 lead after winning two tiebreakers in doubles, but fifth-ranked Tufts was able to win all six singles points to remain undefeated on the year with a 7-2 win over the Stags on Friday evening at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
With the win, Tufts improves to 8-0 on the season with CMS slips to 7-3 with the loss.
Ian Freer and Morgan Schilling paired together for the first time this season, and put the Stags up 1-0 in the first of three doubles tie-breaks. Matthew Robinson and Christian Settles reunited for the first time this spring at No. 1 and came within two points of giving the Stags a 2-0 lead. Despite an early break and a 4-2 lead, the Stags No. 1 combination was unable to extend their lead to 5-2, and stayed on serve until 6-all. At 6-all deuce, a let court ace gave CMS the 7-6 advantage, but the favor was returned by Tufts on their third match point at 7-6 in the tie-break. First years Advik Mareedu and Warren Pham also paired for the first time in a dual match, and came back from a break down twice to prevail 7-3 in a tie-break at No. 3 doubles.
Mareedu provided some early optimism for CMS at the top singles position, building a 6-2, 2-0 lead, and then a 4-3 lead later in the second set. However, Mareedu lost a crucial deuce point at 5-4 in the second set and struggld to regain his confidence in the deciding set. The Stags dropped tightly contested first sets at the remaining five singles positions, with only Settles at No. 4 able to pull out a second set win. Freer also fought hard in the second set at No. 3, pulling within two points of claiming the second set in an 8-6 tie-break loss.
CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it hosts No. 7 Williams at 5 p.m.
#3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2) vs. #5 Tufts (7)
March 24, 2023 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
- Derin Acaroglu/Vuk Vuksanovic (TUFTS) def. Matthew Robinson/Christian Settles (CMS) 8-7 (6)
- Ian Freer/Morgan Schilling (CMS) def. Josh Belandres/Rishabh Sharda (TUFTS) 8-7 (2)
- Advik Mareedu/Warren Pham (CMS) def. Jack Moldenhauer/Alex Ganchev (TUFTS) 8-7 (3)
Singles
- Rishabh Sharda (TUFTS) def. Advik Mareedu (CMS) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
- Vuk Vuksanovic (TUFTS) def. Matthew Robinson (CMS) 6-2, 6-3
- Alex Ganchev (TUFTS) def. Ian Freer (CMS) 6-4, 7-6 (6)
- Derin Acaroglu (TUFTS) def. Christian Settles (CMS) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
- Javier Gonzalez (TUFTS) def. Warren Pham (CMS) 6-4, 6-4
- Josh Belandres (TUFTS) def. Daniel Blackman (CMS) 7-5, 6-3
Order of completion
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 1, 6, 4, 3, 5, 2