CMS Women's Tennis Comes Back in Singles for 5-4 Win over Amherst in NCAA Quarterfinals

ORLANDO, Fla. - Audrey Yoon won the decisive third set 6-0 for the fifth and deciding point as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team came back from a 2-1 deficit after doubles to defeat Amherst 5-4 in the NCAA Division III Championships at the USTA National Campus.

With the win, CMS improves its winning streak to 21 in a row and improves to 25-1 on the season, advancing through to meet Emory in Tuesday's semifinal round. Middlebury and Chicago will meet in the other semifinal, with those winners facing off on Wednesday in the national championship match, when the Athenas would try to win their second national title in a row if they can advance. 

Advancing out of the quarterfinals wasn't a given, as Amherst led 2-1 after doubles. The Athenas earned their one point at No. 2, where Ella Brissett and Lindsay Eisenman were able to force a tiebreaker trailing 7-6 and then got control of the tiebreaker early. Amherst had a furious comeback to win at No. 1 for the final point of doubles, rallying from 7-4 down to win in a tiebreaker. 

CM had decisive wins on three of the singles courts, before Yoon had to battle for the fifth and final point. Alisha Chulani rolled to a 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, Sena Selby had a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4, and Eisenman captured a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 6. 

Yoon seemed to following a similar path after a 6-1 win the first set, but Sophie Diop of Amherst was able to battle back in the second set for a 6-4 win and get a split. Yoon regouped, though, and rolled to a 6-0 win in the third, leaving little doubt of which way the final swing point would go. 

CMS will meet Emory in the semifinals in a big matchup of traditional powers. The last time the two teams played in the NCAA Tournament, it was in the national championship match in 2018, when the Athenas won their first national title.