Deep lineup carries CMS in wins over La Verne, Whittier

CLAREMONT, Calif. – After a two-plus week stretch without playing a conference match, the No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team played a pair of SCIAC matches over the weekend, winning 8-1 over La Verne (March 27) and 8-1 over Whittier (March 28). CMS is now 14-1 this season, 3-0 in conference matches.

CMS 8, La Verne 1 (March 27)
In a rematch of last season's championship match of the SCIAC Championships – which CMS won 5-4 – CMS won 8-1 Friday. La Verne captured its lone point of the match in No. 3 doubles as the CMS freshmen duo Lindsay Brown (CMC) and Bria Smith (CMC) fell to Andrea Madrigal and Janae Chan from La Verne, 8-6. Madrigal is La Verne's top singles player, but played in No. 3 doubles against the Athenas. CMS took the other two doubles points 8-3 (No. 1 doubles) and 8-4 (No. 2 doubles) which gave them a 2-1 lead heading into singles.

The singles matches proved to be a bit easier for the Athenas as each Athena won its match in two sets. In a match-up of nationally-ranked, top-20 singles players and two of the top-5 singles players in the West, junior Caroline Ward (CMC) defeated Madrigal 6-4, 6-3. Madrigal entered the match as the West Region's No. 1 ranked singles player.

Brown in No. 4 singles had to go to a tiebreaker in the first set, winning 7-6 (5). She then closed out her win over Bridget Etchegaray in the second set for a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win. Sophomore Katie Kuosman (CMC; No. 2 singles – 6-0, 6-2), senior Sarah Kukino (CMC; No. 3 singles – 6-1, 6-2), Smith (No. 5 singles – 6-2, 6-2) and freshman Lauren Livingston (CMC; No. 6 singles – 7-5, 6-3) all registered wins in singles.

Results

CMS 8, Whittier 1 (March 28)

Similar to the La Verne match, CMS won 8-1 overall and lost its lone match in doubles. However, against Whittier, CMS' No. 1 doubles team of Ward and Kuosman (the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the West) were upset 9-8 (7-4) by Whittier's Meagan Zamilpa and Gabi Etchegaray, who are ranked seventh in the West. CMS had captured the other two doubles points first, winning 8-0 in No. 3 doubles followed by 8-2 in No. 2 doubles.

With a different looking singles lineup, CMS swept its way through to capture the 8-1 victory. Smith in No. 4 singles (5-0, ret) captured the first singles point for the Athenas. Freshman Samantha Nuno (SCR) slid into the sixth position and finished second, defeating Ruthie Kaplan 6-0, 6-1. Brown (No. 2 singles – 6-1, 6-1), freshman Kyla Scott (HMC; No. 3 singles – 6-1, 6-1) and Livingston (No. 5 singles – 6-1, 6-1) also were victorious for CMS.

Results

In its lone match of the week, CMS heads to Redlands on April 3 for a 2 p.m. start time.

Sign up for CMS Email Updates
Become a fan of CMS Athletics on Facebook: AthleticsCMS
Follows CMS Athletics on Twitter: @AthleticsCMS
CMS Athletics on Instagram: cmsathletics
Watch CMS Athletics videos on YouTube: ClaremontMuddScripps
#goathenas
#gostags
#cmstrong