CMS Women's Tennis Advances to ITA Indoor Championship Match with 7-2 Win over No. 10 Chicago

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team swept doubles and took the first two singles decision to quickly clinch the team win and went on to a 7-2 win over No. 10 Chicago on Saturday morning.

The win sends CMS through to tomorrow's ITA Indoor Championship, when it will meet the winner between No. 2 Emory and No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer, which will result in either a rematch of last season's national championship match, or a Sixth Street rivalry match played over 2000 miles from Sixth Street. 

The Athenas were dominant in doubles, as junior Catherine Allen and sophomore Caroline Cox remained undefeated against Division III competition with an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles. Sophomore Rebecca Berger and junior Madison Shea earned an 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles, while junior Nicole Tan and freshman Sarah Bahsoun finished off the sweep with an 8-5 win at No. 2. 

CMS then earned three straight-set singles wins to finish off the team victory. Berger finished off a dominant day with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3, while freshman Sydney Lee earned a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 4. Allen was pushed to a tiebreaker in the first set at No. 1, emerging with the 7-6 win, and then hit another gear in the second set for a 6-0 win and a straight-set victory. 

Tan added a win at No. 2 singles in three sets, bouncing back after dropping the second set for a split to take the extended tiebreaker. Bahsoun (7-6 in the third) and Cox (7-5 in the third) lost close decisions at No. 6 and No. 5, respectively to account for the two Maroon points on the day. 

The championship match of the ITA Indoors will be held tomorrow at 12 p.m. in Nashville (9 a.m. Pacific time) as the Athenas will try to earn another championship in the 2018-19 campaign, after Cox and Allen earned the ITA Cup doubles title in the fall.