CMS Women's Tennis Opens ITA Indoor Nationals with Dominant Win over WashU

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The No. 1-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team opened play at the ITA Indoor Nationals on Friday with a 9-0 win over No. 13 Washington University, advancing through to tomorrow's semifinals.

The semifinal round will see the Athenas take on Chicago in a match that will get away at 10 a.m. local time (7 a.m. Pacific time). Emory and Pomona-Pitzer will meet in the other semifinal, with the two winners advancing to Sunday's finals. 

Sophomore Caroline Cox and junior Catherine Allen had an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles and then went on to dominant singles wins. Cox earned a perfect 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles, while Allen almost matched her with another shutout before settling for a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles. 

Junior Nicole Tan also had a 6-0 win in the first set at No. 2 singles, before finishing off her two-set win with a 6-4 victory in the second set. Freshman Sydney Lee managed a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 4 and freshman Sarah Bahsoun earned a straight-set win at No. 6 (6-1, 7-5). 

Sophomore Rebecca Berger went three sets at No. 3, but was able to finish off the team shutout, earning a 6-1, 1-6, 10-4 win to remain undefeated in dual matches this year. Berger and Lee also picked up an 8-4 win at No. 3 doubles, while Tan and Bahsoun earned an 8-3 win at No. 2. 

CMS will face a top-ten match-up with No. 10 Chicago tomorrow, its first of many this season. It will have another on Sunday against either No. 2 Emory or No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer, and also has No. 4 Williams, No. 5 Middlebury and No. 7 Tufts on its March schedule.