CLAREMONT, Calif. – It was a tough challenge for the No.12 Washington University in St. Louis men's tennis team on Sunday when it took on the top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the Stags' home courts, the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. The singles comeback was not enough as CMS claimed the 5-2 win over the Bears.
In doubles, all three pairs for the Stags are nationally-ranked, one of only two teams to do so (Tufts). Senior Scott Yamamoto and first-year Drew Koval put up the toughest fight, falling 6-4 to No. 10 Robinson/Pham of the Stags.
Seniors Pato Garcia Muriel and Stefan Hester dropped their doubles match at the top spot, 6-2 to the No. 23 team of Kim/Mareedu. Juniors Case Fagan and Colin Fox fell at number three, 6-1 to the highest of the ranked doubles pairs, No. 9 Settles/Vu.
In singles, it was Hester who got the Bears on the board with a straight-set win at number three singles, 6-2, 6-2 over No. 14 Pham.
Needing just a split of singles, CMS clinched the team win by picking up wins at numbers one, five, and six singles in straight sets. No. 33 Colin Scruggs of the Bears narrowly fell at the number one to top-ranked Mareedu.
Senior Eric Kuo did not let WashU go down without a fight in a match at number two singles, 6-3, 6-1 over Robinson. Since the match had not been clinched at the time, Koval's match at number four had to play out the third set. Eventually the Stags won an extremely close match at the spot, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2).
WashU will be back in action on Tuesday, March 10 in a split team set of matches against both Wabash and No. 23 in Div. II Concordia University Irvine. First serve is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT (12 p.m. CT).
