The top-seeded Stags of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges look forward to taking on the No. 3-seeded Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in a familiar, cross-street rival match during Saturday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Men's Tennis Tournament championship at the University of Redlands.
Fifth-ranked CMS held off the No. 16 Bulldogs in Friday's semifinal match, earning a 7-2 victory in a closer-than-it-seemed battle against the host institution.
Redlands rallied for a 2-1 advantage after the doubles matches with impressive results at the No. 2 and No. 1 slots. Freshmen Nick Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA) and Teddy Jones (St. Louis, MO) rattled off five straight games to overcome an early deficit and clinch the 8-5 decision for the Bulldogs. In addition, the top duo of freshman Patrick Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) and senior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) put together a strong 8-5 performance, resulting in the early lead for Redlands.
However, the Stags refused to go away, earning straight-set victories by Alex Lane at No. 2, Nikolas Marino at No. 3, and Alex Johnson at No. 4.
The Bulldogs put up a fight, winning the first sets of each of the remaining matches.
But, in the end, CMS came out on top in three sets, recording a 7-2 team victory for a spot in the finals. Warren Wood, Mac Cahill, and Cameron Bernhardt all went the distance for the Stags to seal their seventh SCIAC win of the season.
Ranked ninth by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), Pomona-Pitzer punched its ticket to the championship round by upsetting No. 7 Cal Lutheran, 5-4.
Tommy Meyer and Uday Singh rolled to an 8-0 victory at the No. 2 slot, establishing the early momentum for the Sagehens. Chris Wiechert and Alex Groth also stepped up for Pomona-Pitzer by capturing an 8-6 triumph at No. 3, resulting in the early 2-1 lead.
In singles, the Sagehens saw success at the even-numbered slots, with Connor Hudson setting the tone with his 6-2, 6-0 performance at No. 4. Kevin Prescott dropped only three games in his win at No. 6, while Wiechert came up with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 showing for the Sagehens at No. 2.
Two of the Kingsmen's points came in three sets, with Ray Worley and Thomas Millet going the distance at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. Nick Ballou also recorded a win for Cal Lutheran at the top position, knocking off Meyer by scores of 6-4, 6-3.
Occidental and Caltech faced off in the final second-round match, with the Tigers dominating their opponents en route to a 9-0 shutout. Individual scores were not available at the time of posting.
Earlier in the day, Redlands defeated No. 25 Whittier College in a 5-1 performance that included a doubles sweep and singles victories by Lipscomb at No. 1 and freshman Jack Reynolds (Denver, CO) at No. 5.
Pomona-Pitzer also posted a solid opening round with its 5-0 trouncing of Occidental College. After cruising through the doubles, the Sagehens gained quick wins from Meyer and Wiechert in singles.
Furthermore, Cal Lutheran dismissed Caltech, 5-0, in its first match of the day. The Kingsmen swept the doubles without even dropping a game against the Beavers, before Nic Jacobs and Clark Myers put together straight-set wins at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. The duo gave up a total of three games in their combined four sets.
Saturday's action begins at 10 a.m. at the University of Redlands with CMS and Pomona-Pitzer squaring off in the championship match. The host Bulldogs battle it out for third place with Cal Lutheran, and Occidental takes on Whittier for fifth place.
