Claremont, Calif. - The CMS Women's Tennis team earned a pair of tight doubles wins to take a 3-0 lead by the slimmest of margins and went on to earn a 5-0 win over Pomona-Pitzer in the regional finals of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Sunday.
The loss ends Pomona-Pitzer's dual season with a 15-7 record, including three losses to CMS, which moves on to the NCAA Quarterfinals in Mason, Ohio on May 18. Junior Lea Lynn Yen and freshman Grace Hruska will continue on to compete in the NCAA Doubles Championships in Mason, Ohio on May 21, after the conclusion of the team competition.
The tape proved to be unkind to the Sagehens in doubles, as CMS took a 2-0 lead at No. 3 with a 9-7 win when a volley hit the tape and fell over for match point after freshman Maryann Zhao (pictured) and sophomore Maddie Gordon had battled back from 6-3 down to pull even at 7-7. The Athenas had previously earned a 1-0 lead with an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles after Pomona-Pitzer's freshman duo of Shivani Doraiswami and Emily Chen started out with a 3-0 lead.
At No. 1 doubles, Yen and Hruska were broken to start the match and finally broke back to pull even at 6-6. After holding serve for a 7-6 lead, the Sagehen duo had two match points to try to cut the CMS lead to 2-1, but Yen's shot hit the tape and fell backwards on one of them, with a likely winner if it had carried over. Caroline Ward had a service winner on the second to get it back to deuce before the Athenas ended up holding serve.
No. 1 doubles ended up in a tiebreaker and the Sagehens led 5-4 after back-to-back points, but the tape again proved to be killer, as Hruska's overhead clipped the tape and fell back to make the score 5-5, and an ensuing volley did the same to put the Athenas ahead 6-5. On the next point, a Sagehen lob carried just over the line as CMS took the 3-0 lead.
In singles, CMS appeared to be in cruise control, winning the first set on all six courts, but Pomona-Pitzer put up a fight. Zhao battled back to win the second set in a tieberaker, and Yen got her second set into a tiebreaker as well. However, Lindsay Brown earned a win at No. 4 and then Katie Kuosman picked up the clincher at No. 2.
Pomona-Pitzer returns its entire lineup next year from a team that typically started five freshmen in its six singles spots (although Gordon played at No. 6 in the NCAA Tournament). Mae Coyiuto, who was projected to play at No. 1 singles this season as a junior but missed the year with an injury, is also expected to return next season as well.
