CLAREMONT, Calif. - The second-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team dropped a close contest for the doubles point, and couldn't quite complete the comebacks it needed in singles as top-seeded Pomona-Pitzer earned a 4-0 win for the SCIAC Championship on Friday afternoon at the Pauley Tennis Complex.
CMS came into the match ranked No. 3 in the country, and falls to 16-3 overall, putting it position to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. Fifth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer, which defeated CMS 4-3 for the regular season title, improves to 13-7 with the win.
Lindsay Eisenman and
Emily Ing provided a 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles, but Angie Zhou and Marissa Markey were able to earn a comeback 7-5 win at No. 1 to earn the doubles point for the Sagehens, after trailing 4-1.
CMS dropped the first set in singles on the first four courts, and needed to win at least two of them in three sets in order to come back for the win. The Athenas dug down and gave themselves a chance, as
Alisha Chulani flipped her match at No. 3 and led 2-6, 6-2, 4-0 when the match was halted.
Ella Brissett put up a gallant fight in the second set at No. 2, after being down 4-0, coming back with four straight wins to pull even at 4-4. Lauren Rha battled back and went ahead 6-5, and after Brissett fought off a match point to get it to deuce, one point from a tiebreaker, Rha hit a forehand winner for the 7-5 win. That victory put the Sagehens up 3-0, after Zhou took the first singles point at No. 1.
Rebecca Kong was also almost able to get a split at No. 4. She led 5-4 in the second set, and then was down 0-40 in the tenth game before coming back to deuce to get a set point. Markey won the deuce point, though, to level the set at 5-5, and then took another deuce point for a 6-5 lead, before giving Pomona-Pitzer the clinch with a 6-3, 7-5 win for a 4-0 victory.
Chulani was up in the third set in her match, and
Bell Zhou was just starting the third set at No. 5 after splitting the first two sets 6-4 apiece.
Celestina Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne was also in a third set after winning the first.
CMS will await the NCAA Tournament announcement on Monday to find out if it will get in and where it will go for the NCAA Regionals. The Athenas will then try to win their regional and advance to play in the national championships on their home courts May 20-27. The last time Biszantz Family Tennis Center hosted nationals, the Athenas won the national title in 2018, the first in program history.
