Freshman Crystal Juan took a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles in her first SCIAC match

Posted: Feb 10, 2019

CMS Women's Tennis Tested by Caltech in 6-3 Win in SCIAC Opener, Then Sweeps Oxy 9-0

PASADENA, Calif. - The No. 1 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team was pushed in its SCIAC opener against Caltech, but won the first six decisions before settling for a 6-3 win on Saturday. The Athenas also took down Occidental 9-0 in their second match of the day to improve to 3-0 on the young season.

Caltech earned all three of its points in extended third-set tiebreakers with the match already decided (after splitting the first two sets). CMS took all three doubles points to take a 3-0 lead into singles, with the No. 1 ranked team of Catherine Allen and Caroline Cox winning 8-3 at No. 1 and junior Nicole Tan and Sarah Bahsoun winning 8-4 at No. 2.

Senior Jessie Cruz picked up a win by default at the No. 6 position to make the score 4-0 and freshman Crystal Juan earned a shutout win in her first SCIAC match, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5. Bahsoun earned a singles-doubles sweep for the second day in a row by winning 7-5, 6-4 at No. 3 to give CMS a 6-0 lead.

The three matches at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 all saw Caltech win the first set, before CMS bounced back to win a tight second set to force them to an extended tiebreaker. All three tiebreakers were also close, but Anna Tifrea earned a 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 win at No. 2 over Cox to give Caltech its first point. Kana Moriyama edged Tan 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 at No. 1 singles to make the score 6-2, and Sarina Liu picked up a 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 win at No. 4 over junior Anastasia Bryan-Ajania to close out the match as a 6-3 final.

The Athenas had no trouble picking up their second win of the day at Occidental, as the team dropped only three singles games on six courts combined. Freshman Sydney Lee (No. 1), junior Lauren Yamagami (No. 5) and junior Juliette Martin (No. 6) each won 6-0, 6-0, with Cruz winning 6-0, 3-0 at No. 3 before her match was called. Junior Madison Shea added a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 2, and freshman Georgia Tuckerman picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 4 in her first collegiate dual match.

In doubles, Martin and Shea took an 8-4 win at No. 1, with sophomore Rebecca Berger teaming with Lee for an 8-0 shutout at No. 2, and Cruz and Yamagami also earning an 8-0 win at No. 3.

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it travels to face UC San Diego for a 12 p.m. start.