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Sarah Bahsoun celebrates a winner at No. 2 doubles in a 7-2 win for CMS on Wednesday at Pomona-Pitzer
Sarah Bahsoun celebrates a winner at No. 2 doubles in a 7-2 win for CMS on Wednesday at Pomona-Pitzer

CMS Women's Tennis Caps off Undefeated Regular Season in SCIAC with 7-2 Win at Pomona-Pitzer

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team used its depth in singles to fight off a challenge from No. 5 Pomona-Pitzer and capture a 7-2 road win to cap off a perfect 7-0 regular season in SCIAC play on Wednesday afternoon at Pauley Tennis Complex.

With the win, the Athenas stand at 21-1 on the season, including 14 straight wins since dropping its only match to Emory at the ITA Indoor Championships on March 3, and clinched the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament next weekend. CMS will host a semifinal on Friday, May 3 and will earn the right to host the finals on Saturday, May 4 if it advances Pomona-Pitzer slips to 6-1 in the SCIAC and will be the second seed in the conference tournament. 

CMS took a 2-1 lead after doubles, with junior Catherine Allen and sophomore Caroline Cox winning an 8-2 decision at No. 1 for the first point after falling behind 2-0. Freshman Sarah Bahsoun and junior Nicole Tan quickly followed with an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles to make it a 2-0 lead, but the Sagehens were able to salvage the final point at No. 3 doubles with an 8-6 win to close to within 2-1. 

Pomona-Pitzer's top two players in singles lived up to their billing as Caroline Casper won a tight battle at No. 1 against Allen 7-6, 6-4, marking the first loss that Allen has suffered in a dual match this season. Meanwhile, Arianna Chen and Tan had a long battle at No. 2 singles as well, with Tan winning the first set 6-3 and Chen bouncing back to split 6-4 in the second, before Tan prevailed in the third-set tiebreaker 11-9 for the final point of the match. 

Those battles didn't matter for the team score, though, as CMS quickly won three singles points to get the clinch and take away any drama from the close matches at the top of the ladder. Bahsoun took the first one 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6, with Cox quickly following with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 5 to make it a 4-1 lead. Berger then won the race for the fifth and deciding point with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3 to put the Athenas ahead 5-1 and put the team win in the books. 

Freshman Sydney Lee added another point at No. 4 singles with a straight-set win (7-5, 6-1), and after Casper picked up the lone singles point for Pomona-Pitzer at No. 1, Tan finished off her three-set win at No. 2 to make the final score 7-2. 

The Athenas will be off for the next week before returning to the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Friday, May 3 to take on No. 4 seed Redlands in the SCIAC Semifinals. Pomona-Pitzer will face No. 3 Caltech in the other semifinal, with the two winners meeting in the SCIAC Championship at the site of the higher seed on Saturday, May 4.