Bowdoin tops CMS in NCAA quarterfinals
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – In March, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team swept doubles against Bowdoin and went on to a 7-2 win in Claremont. With the stakes much higher, Bowdoin flipped the results in its favor, sweeping doubles and going on to a 5 -1 victory over CMS in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championships on May 23 at Western Michigan University's Sorensen Courts.
CMS ends its team season at 21-5 overall and has now finished in the quarterfinal round or higher every year since 2011. Senior Caroline Ward (CMC) and junior Katie Kuosman (CMC) now transition into the singles and doubles portion of the NCAA Division III Championships which run from May 26-28, also in Kalamazoo.
In Monday's quarterfinals against Bowdoin, CMS fell behind 3-0 after doubles with the top two doubles matches going to Bowdoin by 9-7 scores. Tiffany Cheng and Joulia Likhanskaia defeated Kuosman and Ward at #1 doubles for the first point of the match. At #3 doubles, Samantha Stalder and Tess Trinka won 8-5 over sophomores Lindsay Brown (CMC) and Bria Smith (CMC). The sweep for Bowdoin concluded when Pilar Giffenig and Kyra Silitch beat sophomore Kyla Scott (HMC) and freshman Jessie Cruz (CMC).
The lone point of the match for CMS came at #4 singles when Scott earned the straight-set, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Trinka to make it 3-1. The match-clinching point for Bowdoin came at #5 singles when Stalder won 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 against Cruz. Three singles matches (#2, #3, #6) did not finish and all three were tightly contested in the third set or going into the third set.
By Chris Watts
Director of Athletics Communication
Claremont McKenna College
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