Sweep of Cal Lu Claims 20th SCIAC Title for Athenas

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team completed a 9-0 sweep of the Cal Lutheran Regals on Saturday morning to clinch the 20th SCIAC Championship in program history. CMS dropped just eight games in doubles play to take a commanding 3-0 lead heading into singles play.

Jessie Cruz (CMC) and Madison Shea (CMC) each claimed 6-0, 6-0 victories in singles play to highlight the six victories in singles play for CMS.

Strong performances from all three of the Athenas' doubles teams built a comfortable lead for CMS. At #3 doubles, the team of Lauren Yamagami (CMC) and Anastasia Bryan-Ajania (SC) had the most convincing victory with an 8-1 win. The teams of Lindsay Brown (CMC)/Nicole Tan (CMC) and Madison Shea (CMC)/Jessie Cruz (CMC) also turned in strong victories on courts one and two. Brown/Tan earned an 8-3 win in the top doubles match while Shea/Cruz claimed an 8-4 victory in the #2 doubles match.

After taking a 3-0 lead heading into singles play, the Athenas continued to put their foot on the accelerator, winning five of the six singles matches in straight sets. As mentioned, Cruz and Shea each won with unblemished marks of 6-0, 6-0 in the #2 and #4 singles matches, respectively. At the top singles match, Caroline Cox (CMC) also did not drop a game. She held a 5-0 lead before her opponent retired.

Lauren Yamagami and Juliette Martin (HMC) also earned straight-set victories in singles play. In the #5 singles match, Yamagami earned a 7-5, 6-2 victory while Martin took the #6 singles match with a 6-3, 6-0 victory.

Anastasia Bryan-Ajania was the only Athena to be pushed past a second set. Bryan-Ajania won the first set, 7-5 before dropping the second set, 6-2. With the match already decided, Bryan-Ajania earned the match tiebreaker over Cal Lutheran's Gianna Cupo, 10-3.

As noted, the victory wraps-up the Athenas' regular season conference schedule with a perfect mark of 7-0. The perfect record in regular season SCIAC matches gives the Athenas their 20th SCIAC Championship in program history and eighth in a row.

CMS will wrap up the regular season with a non-conference match against Washington & Lee on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.