CMS wins three straight at Trinity Invitational
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The weekend road trip to San Antonio produced stellar results for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team as the Athenas won all three of their matches at the Trinity Invitational. After shutting out University of Texas Dallas 9-0, the Athenas battled through and prevailed over Trinity University 6-3 on Friday afternoon. CMS closed its trip with a 7-2 victory over Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday.
"With six freshmen in the lineup, this was a good chance for them to play against strong competition," said Head Coach Dave Schwarz. "We had a lot of good performances all the way around and the players are starting to gel."
Freshman Nicole Tan (CMC) played higher than her usual spot in the lineup and rose to the challenge, going undefeated in every event she participated in. The freshman played No. 1 singles against UT-Dallas, beating Kathy Joseph 6-2 and 6-0. Tan was placed at No. 2 singles against Trinity and was put to the test against ranked 50th Caroline Kutach. Despite stumbling in the first set 4-6, Tan made some adjustments and beat her ranked opponent at ease with a pair of 6-1 wins. In No. 1 doubles, Tan paired with junior Lindsay Brown (CMC) and grinded through an 8-4 victory.
Against WashU, Tan dominated her No. 2 singles match (6-1, 6-2) over Grace Deering. In the highly anticipated doubles match against ranked No. 3 doubles pair Rebecca Ho and Kaylan Griffith, Brown and Tan prevailed with an 8-5 victory.
Junior Kyla Scott (HMC) had her share of battles against nationally ranked opponents over the weekend. In her doubles match alongside sophomore Jessie Cruz (CMC) and against Liza Southwick and Mary Kaffen of Trinity, Scott took a tough 9-8 loss after dropping the tiebreaker 7-4. Scott bounced back in the singles competition, responding with a dominating 6-1 and 6-2 singles victory over Southwick who was 29th in the nation. Against WashU, Scott took on No. 4 in the nation Rebecca Ho and ended in a hard fought loss. After dropping the first set 6-3, Scott battled back and was neck to neck on the second set, but fell 7-6 on a tiebreaker.
"Kyla was disappointed she did not go undefeated, and this trip showed there was plenty to learn as the season goes on," said Coach Schwarz. "There's plenty of room for growth for sure."
Freshman Catherine Allen (SC) also went undefeated that weekend and did not drop a single set in all of her matches. Her most notable victory was against No. 30 Marie Lutz of Trinity, whom she handily beat 6-2 and 6-3.
The Athenas will return home for a doubleheader this Saturday, Mar. 4 to host Caltech at 10 a.m. and Christopher Newport at 2 p.m.
By Young Kim
Sports Information Assistant
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