CMS Men's Tennis Ranked No. 5 in Preseason Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's team is ranked No. 5 in the nation in Division III in a preseason poll from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the organization announced this week.

Defending national champion Case Western is ranked No. 1, followed by Middlebury, Tufts, Bowdoin and CMS in the fifth spot. Emory, Williams, WashU, Denison are 6-9, while Sewanee and Chicago are tied for tenth. 

The Stags are coming off a year in which they reached the NCAA Division III Semifinals, including a dramatic 5-4 win over WashU in the quarterfinals, before dropping a narrow 5-4 decision to Tufts. CMS accomplished that with a roster of only seven players over the second half of the season, and the team has replenished its depth as it heads into the 2024 spring season. 

The Stags return five of the six players in their singles lineup, led by Advik Mareedu, who finished the year ranked No. 6 in the nation in singles after compiling a 30-6 record. Mareedu earned his second ITA West Region singles championship this fall, guaranteeing him his second straight appearance on the All-America list in singles. 

Matthew Robinson and Ian Freer played No. 2 and No. 3 singles last spring, and both have All-America accolades under their belts in doubles. Warren Pham and Daniel Blackman are also back from last year's singles lineup, where they played No. 5 and No. 6. Robinson, Freer, Pham and Blackman all didn't compete in the fall, due to studying abroad or injury, and their return this spring solidifies the Stags depth. 

CMS also adds an experienced transfer to potentially step into the singles lineup as well, as Tarm Rojanasoonthon played No. 1 singles and doubles at Carleton last year, earning All-America honors in singles after a 39-8 season. Four first-years (Anirudh Gupta, Josh Kim, Amar Kumar and Anirudh Reddy) will look to have an immediate impact as well. Gupta, in fact, reached the semifinals of the ITA West singles tournament in the fall before falling to Mareedu in a CMS vs. CMS matchup. 

CMS opens its spring schedule on Feb. 16, when it hosts Point Loma and Westmont in a pair of matches at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center, before facing Lewis & Clark and Brandeis on Feb. 18 in its first Division III matches. The Stags will then head to the ITA Indoor Championships Feb. 23-25, facing Trinity (Texas) in the opening round.