CMS Men's Tennis Knocks Off Third Straight Top-10 Foe, Defeats No. 3 Middlebury 4-3
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Anirudh Gupta and Matthew Robinson both came from behind for three-set wins in singles, with Robinson providing the clinch with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 3, as the No. 7 CMS men's tennis team rallied to defeat No. 3 Middlebury 4-3 on Friday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The win was the eighth in a row for the Stags, who improve to 12-3 on the season, with three of the recent wins coming over teams ranked ahead of it in the standings. Gupta had the clincher in a 4-3 win over No. 6 Bowdoin on Saturday, while the Stags followed that up with a 5-2 win over No. 5 Tufts on Wednesday. Middlebury slips to 9-2 on the year with the loss, its first against a Division III opponent (the other came to Division II Azusa Pacific).
CMS trailed 1-0 after doubles after falling in tight battles on all three courts, with Josh Kim and Tarm Rojanasoonthon almost pulling it out at No. 3 before dropping a 9-7 tiebreaker.
The Stags had their backs against the wall in singles, dropping the first set on four courts and needing two comebacks in order to win the match. Advik Mareedu leveled the score at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles, his 16th of the season. The No. 5 and No. 6 courts ended almost simultaneously as Neel Epstein won at No. 5 for Middlebury 6-1, 6-4 to make it a 2-1 Panther lead that lasted for about five seconds, as Warren Pham, who had the clinch against Tufts, knotted the score back up 2-2 with a 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 6 moments later.
Gupta fell 6-1 in the first set at No. 4 against Aidan Harris of Middlebury, but came through with a big service break late in the second set to go up 5-3 and then served it out. He won four of five deuce points in the third set, completing a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win to put the Stags ahead 3-2. Gupta improves to 14-3 in singles on the season.
Despite leads of 3-0 and 4-1 to begin the match, Robinson was unable to close out the first set and lost it 7-5. He trailed by an early break in the second but took control of the final two sets with a combination of long points and aggressive moves forward. Robinson was in command for the entire decisive third set, earning two early breaks for a 4-0 lead. Robby Ward held to make it 4-1, but Robinson answered back with a deuce point hold of his own and broke one final time for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 that gave CMS the clinch.
Ian Freer battled back from a first-set tiebreaker defeat against Julian Wu, the No. 3 ranked player in the country, at No. 2, taking the second set 7-5 after being down 5-4, but Wu was able to take the third set 6-3 to close out the match.
CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it is scheduled to face No. 8 Williams at 5 p.m.
#7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4) vs. #3 Middlebury (3)
March 22, 2024 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Neel Epstein/Robby Ward (MIDD) def. Ian Freer/Matthew Robinson (CMS) 6-4
2. Aidan Harris/Noah Laber (MIDD) def. Anirudh Reddy/Advik Mareedu (CMS) 6-4
3. Noah Lewis/Julian Wu (MIDD) def. Josh Kim/Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) 7-6(7)
Singles
1. Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. Noah Laber (MIDD) 6-4, 6-1
2. Julian Wu (MIDD) def. Ian Freer (CMS) 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-3
3. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Robby Ward (MIDD) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
4. Anirudh Gupta (CMS) def. Aidan Harris (MIDD) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
5. Neel Epstein (MIDD) def. Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) 6-1, 6-4
6. Warren Pham (CMS) def. Hugh Hentschel (MIDD) 6-0, 6-4
Order of completion
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 1, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
