As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2006 Men's Tennis: CMS 4, UC Santa Cruz 3 (NCAA Regional Finals)
The 2006 CMS Men's Tennis team went undefeated through the SCIAC schedule to return to its place atop the league standings after a 7-3 season in 2005 (spoiler alert: the Stags haven't lost a league match since). The season was far from over at that point, though, as the next step was an appearance in the NCAA Regionals. Since finishing as the NCAA runner-up in 1994, CMS hadn't made it back to the nationals (quarterfinals and on), and standing in their way in 2006 was UC Santa Cruz, who happened to be the defending national champions and a regional powerhouse program that had been the biggest reason for that 12-year drought.
CMS got off to a great start by sweeping doubles, which unfortunately was worth only one point at the time in the best-of-seven format, taking a 1-0 lead into singles. Larry Wang (6-0, 6-1) and Jack DePaolo (6-2, 6-2) had dominant wins at No. 2 and No. 4 singles to get the Stags to the cusp of the regional championship, and David Oehm came through with a 6-3, 6-4 win to provide the clincher at No. 6 and give CMS the huge 4-3 victory, earning their way to Fredericksburg, Va. for the team championships for the first time in 12 years (another spoiler alert: they've been frequent visitors since).
William Ellison was the SCIAC Athlete of the Year and was joined on the first team by Larry Wang and Eric Chow, while Guillaume Schils was named to the second team. Schils and Wang also combined to win the ITA National Doubles Championship in the fall add an Ojai Doubles Championship in the spring, and would go on to win the NCAA Division III doubles national championship as juniors in 2008. Wang was also named the ITA West Rookie of the Year, and would win three straight SCIAC Player of the Year honors from 2007-09.
UC Santa Cruz, meanwhile, would win another national title in 2007, making the narrow 2006 win for the Stags all the more special.
Larry Wang:
The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs were a tennis powerhouse, like the New England Patriots of D3 tennis. The program had won multiple national championships in the past decade, had a longtime legendary coach, and had a top player who had just triple crowned the year prior to my arrival. Our team was abound with talent that year and everyone set their sights on a national championship particularly after going undefeated in SCIACs en route to winning the SCIACs championship. Leading up to our regionals match against UC Santa Cruz at home (pre-Biszantz), we had beaten them 4-3 a couple weeks prior during the regular season.
Back in the fall, Coach Settles had the insight/boldness to pair me with Gui Schils, another freshman, in doubles. We had an instant connection, won fall nationals, and played #1 doubles the entire season. We continued our winning ways in our regional match against UC Santa Cruz, with our other 2 lines also winning comfortably to secure the 1-0 lead. At #2 singles, I had lost to my Santa Cruz counterpart twice already that year, pretty badly in the fall tournament and then in 3 sets in our regular season meeting. He was a senior who had been part of Santa Cruz's prior national champion teams and had a consistent game that frustrated me. Since we only won 4-3 previously, I knew every singles match would be critical. I came out hot from the beginning and after breaking my opponent's serve in the first game with a delicate drop shot, I knew it would be a good day. I was able to maintain my level of play and won in straight sets to give us a 2-0 lead to keep our momentum from doubles. Our #1 player, Will Ellison, had also come out firing and won the first set against their aforementioned Goliath top player to hold off any Slug rally. Jack Depaolo was the next to secure a win to give us three points, but the rest of the matches were in tight battles. David Oehm, who had earned the start at #6 that week, was fortunately able to pull through to seal our ticket to the Elite 8 for the first time in quite some time.
After having grinded through the monotony of the individually-oriented junior tennis, I discovered a new joy in the team dynamic of college tennis, finding it to be more entertaining and more rewarding being able to contribute to a shared goal. Although we came up short at nationals that year, I like to think that year was a turning point for the school's tennis program and that from then on, CMS would be synonymous with national championship contenders. I can't imagine that changing any time soon as it's hard not to see the appeal of CMS from a tennis recruit's standpoint -- solid academics, sunny California weather, amazing facility, and a great coach. I anticipate there will be many more national championships to come. I'm admittedly still disappointed I was never able to be part of a team championship, but I still profess that my time on the CMS tennis team was the most fun in tennis I've ever had.
2006 Men's Tennis Roster
Head Coach: Paul Settles
Assistant Coaches: Michael Thoeresz/Hank Krieger
Ryan Berber (Fr., CMC)
Russell Chidester (Fr., CMC)
Eric Chow (Jr., CMC)
Jack DePaolo (So., CMC)
Kyle Ellison (Sr., CMC)
William Ellison (Jr., CMC)
Jason Evans (Sr., CMC)
Evan Feldhausen (Jr., CMC)
Ben Hough (So., CMC)
Kirthi Narasimhan (So., CMC)
David Oehm (Jr., CMC)
Drew Sabater (Fr., HMC)
Guillaume Schils (Fr., CMC)
Jonathan Solomon (Fr., CMC)
Larry Wang (Fr., CMC)
Ben Wiener (Fr., CMC)
