CMS Men's Tennis Defeats No. 8 Williams 4-3 in Completion of Suspended Match
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Tarm Rojanasoonthon had to come back from a set and a break down, but won a second-set tiebreaker and then rolled to a 6-0 win in the third set for the clinching point, as the No. 7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team defeated No. 8 Williams 4-3 on Sunday in the completion of a match that was suspended due to rain on Saturday with CMS leading 3-2.
CMS improves to 13-3 with the win, including nine wins in a row since returning from the ITA Indoor Nationals. The last week has seen the Stags defeat No. 6 Bowdoin 4-3 on Saturday, No. 5 Tufts 5-2 on Wednesday, No. 3 Middlebury 4-3 on Friday, and No. 8 Williams 4-3 in a series of dramatic wins against top ten NESCAC opponents.
Three of the four NESCAC opponents - Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Williams - have suffered their lone Division 3 loss at the hands of CMS Tennis.
Before the rain halted play on Saturday, Advik Mareedu again came up big for the Stags at the top singles position, breaking hard serving lefty Matt Kandel at 5-3, and then again at 5-all, and held on for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win to put CMS ahead 3-2. Mareedu came into the match ranked No. 9 in the country and Kandel No. 4, and the match lived up to its billing in front of a passionate partisan crowd.
Anirudh Gupta got the Stags' first point at No. 4, when Simon Volkema retired due to injury with the score 4-4 in the first set. Gupta had swung the momentum and leveled the match after trailing 4-1. Warren Pham continued his quiet efficient winning ways at No. 6, earning a 6-4, 6-3 win for CMS' second point..
CMS resumed play on Sunday with a 3-2 lead and both Matthew Robinson (at No. 3 singles) and Rojanasoonthon (at No. 5 singles) on court. Robinson had kept the Stags in competitive advantage on Saturday night, coming back from a 6-1, 4-1 deficit to win an exciting tie-break and force a third set. On Sunday, Robinson's opponent Nicholas Chen used an early service break in the third to close out the win for the Ephs and level the dual match at 3-all. Meanwhile, Rojanasoonthon, who had come back from a break down at 4-3 in the second set on Saturday night, and won the final two games before rain suspended play, needed a second set tiebreaker to stay alive on Sunday. After winning the second set, Rojanasoonthon faced one deuce point in the first game of the third, and after converting the break, never faced another game point in an emphatic display to clinch the match.
CMS will be back in action next weekend when it travels to St. Louis, site of the 2024 NCAA Division III Championships in May. The Stags will face host No. 2 WashU and No. 14 Trinity (Texas) on Friday, followed by Skidmore on Saturday.
#7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4) vs. #8 Williams (3)
March 23-24, 2024 at Claremont, CA. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Nicholas Chen/Matt Kandel (WIL) def. Matthew Robinson/Ian Freer (CMS) 6-4
2. Shawn Berdia/Simon Volkema (WIL) def. Advik Mareedu/Anirudh Reddy (CMS) 6-3
3. Andrew Chong/Leon Liu (WIL) def. Josh Kim/Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) 7-6(4)
Singles
1. Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. Matt Kandel (WIL) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5
2. Shawn Berdia (WIL) def. Ian Freer (CMS) 6-3, 6-3
3. Nicholas Chen (WIL) def. Matthew Robinson (CMS) 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-1
4. Anirudh Gupta (CMS) def. Simon Volkema (WIL) 4-4, retired
5. Tarm Rojanasoonthon (CMS) def. Kush Anand (WIL) 6-7(6), 7-6 (7-3), 6-0
6. Warren Pham (CMS) def. Leon Liu (WIL) 6-4, 6-3
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 4, 2, 6, 1, 3, 5
