CMS Women's Tennis Takes Over Top Spot in Latest ITA National Poll

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After earning the title of the ITA Indoor Nationals over the weekend, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team moved up to No. 1 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings, the organization announced on Thursday.

CMS defeated Emory 5-4 to win in the indoor title, snapping a string of three straight championships for the Eagles at the annual event. The Athenas moved up a spot to No. 1, while defending national champion Wesleyan (Conn.) is at No. 2 and Emory remains at No. 3. 

The big weekend also resulted in several individual accolades, as first-year Justine Leong earned the ITA Division III National Player of the Week honor after going 2-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles. One of her singles wins came in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ysabel Gonzalez Rico of Emory, who is the defending NCAA Division III national singles champion. Senior Catherine Allen, meanwhile, captured the SCIAC Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honor after a 6-0 weekend, including the decisive win at No. 2 singles (7-5, 3-6, 7-5) with the match tied 4-4. Junior Caroline Cox was also 6-0 on the weekend while playing in her home state of Kentucky and earned the CMS Athlete of the Week Award. 

With the three wins, CMS is now 10-0 on the year, including 6-0 against Division III competition. The Athenas also twice beat Hawaii Pacific, ranked in the top 10 in Division II, as well as UC San Diego, a Division II program in transition to Division I, and San Diego Christian of the NAIA. 

The Athenas will put their new No. 1 ranking to the test with three home matches this weekend, taking on SCIAC rival Cal Lutheran on Friday at 3 p.m. and then playing two matches on Sunday against Division I Army West Point at 10 a.m. and Swarthmore at 2 p.m.

To view the complete ITA rankings, head to the following link:

ITA Division III Poll (March 5)