Next Level in La Jolla: Stags Rout No. 11 Wash U for Fourth Straight Shutout
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 2-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team turned in a dominating performance on Saturday at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, routing No. 11 Wash U St. Louis 9-0 for their fourth consecutive shutout. Sophomore Nic Meister and senior Daniel Park fought back from a service break down at No. 3 to complete a doubles sweep, and CMS lost only one set in singles play. The Stags improve to 13-1 overall on the season.
On the heels of a great team performance at the 131st Pacific Coast Doubles Championship, CMS saved its best doubles for last in blanking the Bears. Nikolai Parodi and Ian Freer got CMS on the board first, with an emphatic 8-4 win at the No. 1 position. Jack Katzman and Robert Liu made the score 2-0 by consolidating a service break at 6-5 and then serving out the match. Meister and Park needed to break serve returning at 6-5 to level the match, and then played a near-perfect tie-breaker to put the Stags up 3-0 heading into singles.
Freer used an all-court attack at No. 4 singles to win 6-3, 6-1, before Park provided the clinch at No. 5 in only yielding a single game. Liu increased the Stags' lead to 6-0 with his 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 6, followed by another gritty finish for Meister, who saved a set point 4-5 in the second, and went on to win the last three games at No. 3. With CMS up 7-0, Parodi raised his level to pull away in three sets at No. 1, while Katzman fought off a late charge to earn the Stags' second tie-break win of the dual at No. 2.
#2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (9) vs. #11 Washington University in St. Louis (0)
March 7, 2020 at La Jolla, CA (La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club)
Doubles
1. Nikolai Parodi / Ian Freer (CMS) def. Daniel Li / Sam Komis (WUSTL) 8-4
2. Jack Katzman / Robert Liu (CMS) def. Bernardo Neves / J.J. Kroot (WUSTL) 8-5
3. Daniel Park / Nic Meister (CMS) def. Ethan Hillis / Gabe Owens (WUSTL) 8-7(2)
Singles
1.Nikolai Parodi (CMS) def. Ethan Hillis (WUSTL) 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
2. Jack Katzman (CMS) def. Bernardo Neves (WUSTL) 6-2, 7-6(2)
3. Nic Meister (CMS) def. Daniel Li (WUSTL) 6-1, 7-5
4. Ian Freer (CMS) def. J.J. Kroot (WUSTL) 6-3, 6-1
5. Daniel Park (CMS) def. Koki Takabatake (WUSTL) 6-0, 6-1
6. Robert Liu (CMS) def. Mark Wu (WUSTL) 6-3, 6-3
Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 4, 5, 6, 3, 1, 2