CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team began the day with a 7-0 win over Division I UC Riverside, and closed it out with a 7-0 win over Brandeis in its Division III opener on Sunday evening at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The two wins make the Stags 4-0 on opening weekend, with victories over DI (UC Riverside), DII (Point Loma), DII (Brandeis) and NAIA (Stanton) institutions.
In the morning, CMS earned a quick 7-0 win over UC Riverside, sweeping all nine individual matches.
Josh Kim and
Sibi Raja won 6-2 at No. 2 doubles, with
Advik Mareedu and
Caleb Settles winning 6-3 at No. 1 and
Warren Pham and
Brandon Vu taking a 6-4 win at No. 3.
Mareedu had the most dominant singles win for the Stags, picking up a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1, while
Henry Wilson won a 6-4, 6-3 decision at 6-4. Settles (7-6, 6-3) at No. 5, and
Amrith Kodumuri (6-3, 7-6) at No. 6 prevailed in straight sets after winning tiebreakers, while Kim won in three sets at No. 3 (3-6, 6-2, 6-2) and Raja took a three-setter (3-6, 6-4, 10-3) in a pro-set tiebreaker in the third.
The night session against Brandeis saw CMS again sweep doubles, as Mareedu and Settles won 6-3 at No. 1, and
Anirudh Reddy and Wilson clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win at No. 3. Kim and Raja added their second win of the day with a 6-3 win at No. 2.
Mareedu again had a quick match at No. 1 singles, taking a 6-1, 6-2 win to make it 2-0, and Kim earned a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 3 to put the Stags ahead 3-0. Pham picked up the clinch after outlasting Pierce Garbett's comeback effort in the second set for a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 2.
Rohan Yarlagadda prevailed in a tight first set at No. 6, and came away with a 7-5, 6-1 win to make the score 5-0, fighting off two set points at 5-3 in the first to earn his sweep. Wilson bounced back after falling in the first set to take a 4-6, 6-0, 10-7 win at No. 4 to go to 4-0 on the day and make the score 6-0.
Settles then completed the Stags' second shutout of the day when he rallied from down a set and down 5-1 in the second to win two tiebreakers after saving two match points on his serve receive. He earned a second-set win with a 7-5 tiebreaker win and then went on to earn the third as well, taking a 5-7, 7-6, 10-5 win to close out the match.
CMS returns to action next weekend at the ITA Indoor Nationals, beginning with a match against Swarthmore on Friday in the quarterfinals.
