CMS Men's Tennis Defends Home Court for Wins over Redlands, Kenyon

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The seventh-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team was pushed by No. 28 Redlands in its SCIAC opener before prevailing with a 6-3 win, and came back in the evening to defeat No. 31 Kenyon 7-0 to earn a pair of wins on Saturday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.

With the wins, CMS moves to 6-3 on the season, and extends its SCIAC win streak to 146 straight matches (154 including the four SCIAC Postseason Tournaments since the league went to a four-team format in 2018). Redlands had the old streak of 143 in a row from 1963-76 until CMS broke it, and they had some thoughts of breaking the current streak after taking a 2-1 lead after doubles, taking the swing point at No. 2 in a tiebreaker. 

Ian Freer had a dominant win at No. 2 singles for CMS to level the score 2-2, but the other five courts were highly competitive, so much so that the tie wasn't broken until Advik Mareedu won in three sets at No. 1 (6-2, 3-6, 6-3). Mareedu moves to 11-3 in singles on the season and is 3-1 in three set matches.  Anirudh Gupta closed strong in both sets for a 7-5, 7-5 win to give CMS a 4-2 lead, and the clinch was provided by Josh Kim at No. 6, as he won 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3. 

Matthew Robinson, who teamed with Freer for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles, held on for a grinding straight-setter at No. 3 singles for the final point of the match for the Stags, 6-4, 7-6 (2). 

The match with Kenyon was played with Division I rules, with doubles counting for one point, and the Stags clinched the point quickly. Freer and Robinson won again 6-2, and Mareedu and Anirudh Reddy followed with the same 6-2 score. Kim and Tarm Rojanasoonthon rallied from 3-0 and 5-2 down, putting themselves in position to serve out the match at 6-5. Instead, they held on for a 7-6(5), winning the final two points in emphatic fashion to give the Stags a doubles sweep.

The Stags clicked in singles against Kenyon, with only Mareedu going to three sets, where he closed out the match with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win. Rojansoonthon was dominant at No. 6, winning 6-0, 6-0 for the first singles point, and Gupta won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4 for his second singles win of the day. Freer then provided the clinch at No. 2 with his second straight set win of the day.

Kim won 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 for his second singles win, and Robinson pulled out a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 3 to join Freer in going 4-0 on the day.

CMS improves to 6-3 overall and will be back in action when it hosts the Stag-Hen Invitational, beginning with a match against George Fox on Friday at 10 AM.

#7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (6) vs. #28 Redlands (3)
March 9, 2024 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Ian Freer/Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Jax Ledwith/MJ Abarca (UR) 8-3
2. Nico Calixto/Yoav Nir (UR) def. Advik Mareedu/Warren Pham (CMS) 8-7(4)
3. Dominic Anderson/Jack Fanshawe (UR) def. Josh Kim/Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) 8-6

Singles
1. Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. Nico Calixto (UR) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
2. Ian Freer (CMS) def. Yoav Nir (UR) 6-1, 6-0
3. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Dominic Anderson (UR) 6-4, 7-6(2)
4. Gustavo Marcanth (UR) def. Warren Pham (CMS) 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4
5. Anirudh Gupta (CMS) def. Jax Ledwith (UR) 7-5, 7-5
6. Josh Kim (CMS) def. Cooper Whittington (UR) 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3

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

#7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. #31 Kenyon (0)
March 9, 2024 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. Ian Freer/Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Eliezer Gonzalez/Paulo Pocasangre (KEN) 6-2
2. Advik Mareedu/Anirudh Reddy (CMS) def. Rishil Kondapaneni/Eric Zhang (KEN) 6-2
3. Josh Kim/Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) def. Alejandro Gonzalez/Gianluca Bocanegra (KEN) 7-6 (7-5)

Singles
1. Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. Paulo Pocasangre (KEN) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
2. Ian Freer (CMS) def. Rishil Kondapaneni (KEN) 6-3, 6-4
3. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Alejandro Gonzalez (KEN) 6-4, 7-5
4. Anirudh Gupta (CMS) def. Gianluca Bocanegra (KEN) 6-4, 6-1
5. Josh Kim (CMS) def. Eliezer Gonzalez (KEN) 6-2, 6-4
6. Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) def. Eric Zhang (KEN) 6-0, 6-0

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