CLAREMONT, Calif. – Facing the top-ranked team in the country, No. 9 MIT fell to No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 6-1, in a non-conference women's tennis match on Thursday.
THE BASICS:
- Score: No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6, No. 9 MIT 1
- Records: No. 9 MIT (7-2 Overall); No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (12-1 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED - DOUBLES:
- Carley Chen and Chloe Zeng fell to Rebecca Kong and Ananya Sriniketh, 6-0, in the No. 2 position.
- After trading games to open the match at No. 1 doubles, Lindsay Eisenman and Celestina Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne broke the serve of Alaina Kolli and Artemis Pados to take a 4-3 lead. MIT won the next game, setting off an exchange of games until the duo from CMS recorded a 6-4 victory and captured the doubles point.
- In the No. 3 spot, Katie Driscoll and Anastasia Samets jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Leah Baroudi and Bell Zhou battled back to tie the match at 4-4. The match became a back-and-forth affair as the Athenas forced a tiebreaker. The tight play continued until Driscoll and Samets won back-to-back points to secure the 7-6 (7-5) victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED - SINGLES:
- Samets lost to Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne, 6-2, 6-1, in the No. 6 spot.
- In the first set at No. 5 singles, Sophia Yang produced back-to-back victories to come within 4-3, but Baroudi won the next two games. In the second set, Yang generated a pair of victories to tie the frame at 2-2. However, Baroudi went on to build a 5-2 advantage. Yang extended the set by winning the next game, but Baroudi thwarted the comeback attempt as she posted a 6-3 victory.
- In the No. 4 slot, Chen lost to Zhou, 6-1, in the first set. In the second set, Chen won back-to-back games to tie the set at 2-2. However, Zhou went on to post a 6-2 victory and clinch the match for CMS.
- Trailing 5-2 to Kong in the No. 2 position, Zeng won back-to-back games, but Kong held on for the 6-4 win. In the second set, Zeng took a 2-0 lead, but Kong rattled off three consecutive victories. Zeng tied the set at 3-3, however, Kong pulled away for a 6-3 win.
- In the No. 3 spot, Driscoll topped Sriniketh, 6-0, in the opening set. In the second set, both players traded games until Sriniketh recorded back-to-back wins to capture the set, 7-5. Using the super tiebreaker to determine the match, Sriniketh recorded a 10-4 victory.
- Saina Deshpande closed out the match by notching the Engineers' only point of the day. Facing a 5-2 deficit to Eisenman at the top of the ladder, Deshpande won four games in a row to take the lead, but Eisenman forced a tiebreaker. Deshpande raced out to a 6-1 advantage before recording a 7-3 victory. In the second set, Eisenman registered a 6-1 win. The super tiebreaker was a back-and-forth battle until Deshpande generated three unanswered points to secure a 10-8 victory.
UP NEXT:
- MIT will wrap up its trip with a match at No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, March 27 at 5:00 PM ET (2:00 PM PT).
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