CMS Women's Tennis Dominates No. 8 Tufts, Adds 8-1 Win over Babson

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team, ranked No. 2 in the nation, made quick work of No. 8 Tufts in a top-10 showdown at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Tuesday, winning 9-0, while also adding an 8-1 win over Babson in the afternoon to complete a doubleheader sweep.

With the wins, CMS now stands at 12-1 on the season, with the only loss a 5-3 defeat to No. 1 Emory in the ITA Indoor Championship match. Tufts moves to 2-1 on the year, while Babson falls to 2-3. 

In the Tufts match, sophomore Caroline Cox and junior Catherine Allen, the No. 1 ranked doubles team in Division III, took an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles to improve to 16-1 on the year. Freshman Sarah Bahsoun and junior Nicole Tan added an 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles, while junior Madison Shea and sophomore Rebecca Berger completed the 3-0 doubles sweep with a hard-fought 8-6 win at No. 3. 

The Athenas then whipped through singles, dropping only 17 games on the six courts. Three players won by the identical 6-2, 6-0 finals, with Allen taking hers at No. 1, Tan winning at No. 2, and senior Jessie Cruz winning at No. 5. 

Cruz was the first to finish her match at No. 5, and Cox had the clinching win at No. 3, winning 6-1, 6-1. Bahsoun earned a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 4, while junior Anastasia Bryan-Ajania completed the 9-0 shutout with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 6. 

The Athenas led only 2-1 after doubles against Babson, with Shea and freshman Sydney Lee picking up an 8-1 win at No. 2, and Bryan-Ajania and freshman Crystal Juan earning an 8-0 win at No. 3. 

Any questions about the potential outcome of the match were answered quickly in singles, with CMS finishing off dominant wins at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 to seal the team win at 5-1. Juan captured her match at No. 4 singles 6-1, 6-1, while freshman Georgia Tuckerman (6-2, 6-0 at No. 5) and junior Lauren Yamagami (6-1, 6-0 at No. 6) were equally dominant. 

The Athenas finished off the singles sweep at the top of the ladder, with Shea winning 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 to push the lead to 6-1. Bryan-Ajania then won her second singles match of the day at No. 3 (6-1, 6-3) before Lee earned the final win of the day at No. 1 by scores of 7-5, 6-1. 

A total of 11 different players earned singles wins in the doubleheader, with Bryan-Ajania winning one in each match. 

CMS will back in action tomorrow for another doubleheader against two nationally ranked teams, meeting Sewanee in the morning at 9 a.m. and Bowdoin in the afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The start time for both matches was moved up to try to avoid potential afternoon rain.