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CMS punched its ticket with a win over Pomona-Pitzer, and could face them again in Dallas
CMS punched its ticket with a win over Pomona-Pitzer, and could face them again in Dallas
Posted: May 01, 2023

CMS Women's Tennis Heads to UT Dallas for NCAA Regionals

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team will head to UT Dallas for the NCAA Division III Regionals, where it will open play on Saturday against the winner of the opening-round match between Whitman and host UT Dallas, the NCAA announced this morning.

CMS will begin defense of its NCAA Division III Championship against an unfamiliar opponent, regardless of who wins. UT Dallas played a second-round match at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in 2019, which the Athenas won 6-0, although nobody is left on the CMS roster who was on the team back then. 

The regional championship, though, could see a very familiar opponent, as Pomona-Pitzer lurks on the other side of the regional bracket, where it faces Trinity (Texas) in its semifinal. The Athenas earned the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship by defeating Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday 5-3, one week after defeating the Sagehens 5-4 in the regular season finale, potentially setting up three Sixth Street matchups in three weeks. 

If CMS should advance to meet Trinity, it last faced the Tigers in 2022, when it earned an 8-1 win at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. 

The Athenas earned the second national title in program history a year ago, when it defeated Chicago 5-1 in the national championship match at the USTA Campus in Orlando, Florida, which is the same site for nationals this year. Chicago won the rematch at the ITA Indoor Championship back in February, and has been ranked No. 1, with CMS No. 2, ever since. 

However, the Athenas have not lost since that match, and take an 18-match winning streak into NCAA competition. CMS has also not lost outdoors this season, and have lost only one outdoor match since finishing the 2019 season as the national runner-up, which came a year ago to Pomona-Pitzer, which it avenged in the SCIAC Championship match. 

The winner of the UT Dallas Regional will head to Orlando, Florida for nationals, beginning with the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals on Sunday, May 13.