CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team earned a 4-0 win over Sewanee in the NCAA Division III Regional Finals on Saturday afternoon at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The second-ranked Stags improve to 32-1 on the season with the win, while handing No. 14 Sewanee only its second loss, as the Tigers fall to 22-2. CMS advances to nationals for the 15th straight season, a streak which started in 2010. The last time CMS did make it through to the NCAA quarterfinals was in 2009 when it fell to UC Santa Cruz in the regional finals.
The Stags controlled the match throughout, with
Henry Wilson and
Anirudh Reddy taking the first doubles win with a 6-1 victory at No. 3, and
Advik Mareedu and
Caleb Settles securing the doubles point with a 6-3 win at No. 1.
Sibi Raja and
Josh Kim were up 5-1 at No. 2 when their match was halted.
Wilson was the first to earn a singles victory, as he dominated his match at No. 3 for a 6-0, 6-1 win. Mareedu then won his final match at Biszantz with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1, improving his record to 35-2 this year, and 76-3 in the last two years combined in singles.
It nearly was a storybook finish at Biszantz for the two Stag seniors, as
Warren Pham had a chance to win his match with a break at deuce up 6-3, 5-2 at No. 2 singles, but Henry Hyden was able to hold to close to 6-3, 5-3. Moments later, Raja finished off his win at No. 4, earning a 6-3, 6-4 victory to secure the clinch.
Settles was up 7-6, 3-1 in his match at No. 6, winning four straight points in the tiebreaker after being down 5-3 to get up a set. Kim was tied 2-2 early in the third set at No. 5, after taking the first set 6-1, before Max Verellen earned the split.
CMS will head to Chattanooga looking for the third national title in program history. The Stags reached the national championship match two years ago, when Mareedu and Pham both picked up singles wins in a 5-4 defeat to Chicago.
