CMS Men's Tennis Knocks off Emory 7-2 in 2019 Title Rematch
MAYFIELD, Ohio - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team bounced back from a 5-4 defeat to Chicago on the first day of the ITA Indoor Nationals to capture a convincing 7-2 win over Emory on Saturday. The victory for CMS broke a streak of six straight wins for Emory in the rivalry over the past seven seasons, including two NCAA Championship matches (2017 and 2019) and two ITA National Team Indoor Championship matches (2018 and 2020).
The win improves CMS to 5-2 on the season, with one loss coming to USC, a top-10 Division I program, and one yesterday to Chicago. Emory also suffered a 5-4 defeat yesterday to WashU, so the two teams which played each other in the 2019 NCAA Championship, and the 2020 ITA Indoor Championship, found themselves in an unexpected consolation match looking for an important bounce-back win.
CMS responded emphatically by coming out and taking a 3-0 lead by sweeping doubles, including an 8-0 win for Robert Liu and Jack Katzman at No. 1 doubles. After Matthew Robinson and Philip Martin added a similarly decisive 8-3 win at No. 3, the final doubles match came down to a tiebreaker, with Stags duo Ian Freer and Ethan Carroll winning a thrilling final three points to earn the 8-7(5) win and give CMS the 3-0 lead.
The singles clinch came quickly as Robinson (6-1, 6-1) and then Freer (6-4, 6-1) rolled to singles wins to put CMS ahead 5-0. Christopher Li followed with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 5 to extend the lead to 6-0.
CMS was close to the sweep, but Andrew Esses edged Katzman in a third-set tiebreaker at No. 2, and Nolan Shah was able to take a close 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win over Martin at No. 3.
The Stags will return to action tomorrow when they face Brandeis in the fifth-place match at ITA Indoor Nationals.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7) vs. Emory (2)
February 26, 2022 at Mayfield, OH. (Mayfield Village Racquet Club) ITA Division III National Team Indoors - Consolation Semifinals
Doubles
1. Jack Katzman/Robert Liu (CMS) def. Andrew Esses/Sahil Raina (Emory) 8-0
2. Ian Freer/Ethan Carroll (CMS) def. Antonio Mora/Ryan Glanville (Emory) 8-7(5)
3. Matthew Robinson/Philip Martin (CMS) def. Nolan Shah/Sujay Sharma (Emory) 8-3
Singles
1. Robert Liu (CMS) def. Antonio Mora (Emory) 6-1, 6-4
2. Andrew Esses (Emory) def. Jack Katzman (CMS) 6-0, 3-6, (10-5)
3. Nolan Shah (Emory) def. Philip Martin (CMS) 7-6(4), 7-6(4)
4. Ian Freer (CMS) def. Sujay Sharma (Emory) 6-4, 6-1
5. Christopher Li (CMS) def. Brandon Cohen (Emory) 6-1, 6-2
6. Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Pushkar Shinde (Emory) 6-1, 6-1
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 6, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3