Men's and women's tennis add to trophy case at NCAAs

Caroline Ward and Katie Kuosman

Caroline Ward and Katie Kuosman

At the NCAA Division III Singles and Doubles Tennis Championships which ran from May 21-23 in Mason, Ohio, members of the CMS Stags won both the singles and doubles titles while the Athenas' top doubles team finished as the Division III runner-up. Read complete recaps of the final day of the singles and doubles championships for both squads below.

A clean sweep; Stags add NCAA D-III singles and doubles titles to trophy case Seniors Warren Wood (CMC) and Joe Dorn (CMC) completed the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s tennis team’s week of dominance at the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships by winning the NCAA singles and doubles titles on May 23 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. CMS earned a clean sweep of national titles during the week, also winning the team championship on Wednesday against Middlebury, CMS’ first national title since 1981.

The day began with Wood winning the singles championship over fellow Stag, junior Skyler Butts (CMC). Wood won in two sets over Butts, 6-1, 6-4. CMS last had a singles player win the national championship in 1993 when Ryan McKee took home the trophy. Wood reached the finals last year as well but lost to Amherst’s Joey Fritz.

This is not the first time that Wood and Butts have faced off in the championship match of a prestigious tournament. Just under a month ago, Wood defeated Butts in straight sets to win the Ojai singles crown. Saturday marked the first time since 2011 that the singles finals have been played between two players from one team. Emory was the last team to do so.

After Wood captured the singles title, he quickly jumped into the doubles semifinals with Dorn. In the semis, they had a rematch against Palmer Campbell and Peter Heidrich of Middlebury who they defeated 8-3 in the team championship Wednesday. On Saturday, Dorn and Wood defeated them in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Then in the championship match later in the afternoon, the CMS seniors went the distance against North Carolina Wesleyan’s Robert Kjellberg and Sebastian Sikh, winning 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 to win the national title and avenge last season’s upset loss in the opening round as the top seed.

CMS’ last national championship winning doubles team was in 2008 when Guillaume Schils and Lawrence Wang were crowned as champions.

Athenas bring home third-straight D-III doubles runner-up trophy For the third-straight season, a women's doubles team from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps made it all the way to the championship match of the NCAA Division III Doubles Championships. Junior Caroline Ward (CMC) and sophomore Katie Kuosman (CMC) claimed the second place doubles trophy on May 23 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Saturday's finals appearance capped off a successful week for the Athenas who were also key in the team finishing in fourth place overall in the team championships which ended on May 20.

In Saturday's championship match, Kuosman and Ward lost in three sets to Juli Raventos and Linda Shin 5-7, 7-6 (4), 3-6. The Athenas had their opportunities in the third set but could never take the lead. They trailed 4-1 and moved within 4-3 but lost a long, tough game to make it 5-3, before losing 6-3 for game, set and match.

Earlier in the day in the semifinals, the CMS doubles team took care of a familiar foe, La Verne's Bridget Etchegaray and Laina Matsuda, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the finals.

It is the second-straight runner-up trophy for Kuosman and Ward and third-straight for Ward who also played in the doubles title match as a freshman in 2013 with then senior Kristin Lim.

 

 

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