Athenas Tennis Takes 4-1 Win over Caltech to Advance to SCIAC Finals

CLAREMONT, Calif. -

Bell Zhou won in both singles and doubles, and

Ananya Sriniketh picked up the clincher in singles, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team defeated Caltech 4-1 in the semifinals of the SCIAC Tournament on Thursday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.

With the win, CMS moves to 22-1 on the year and advances to the SCIAC Championship on Saturday against Pomona-Pitzer, which will be held at Biszantz.

Caltech took the doubles point with tight 6-4 wins at No. 1 and No. 2, after Zhou and

Leah Baroudi earned a 6-3 win at No. 3. CMS appeared to be on its way to dominating singles quickly, taking 6-0 first sets on three of them, and 6-1 sets on two others, but the Beavers put up a fight to make the Athenas earned the win.

Zhou was the first to finish, taking a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3, and

Celestina Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne and

Shifali Dinesh finished within a minute of each other on No. 5 and No. 6. Cedill-Vayson De Pradenne won the first set 6-0, and used a late-double flip to take a 6-3 win in the second set to make the score 2-1. Dinesh was able to earn a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 6 to bring CMS within one point of the clinch.

Sriniketh cruised in the first set 6-0, but found herself down 3-0 in the second set. The Beavers took the first set at No. 4, and

Rebecca Kong was down 5-2 in the second set after winning the first set 6-1, so the clinch suddenly didn't seem automatic.

However, Sriniketh responded by rattling off six wins in a row to take a 6-0, 6-3 win to secure the clinch. Kong also had a late surge and was leading 6-1, 6-5 when her match was halted, and Baroudi was working towards a split at No. 4, where she trailed 4-6, 3-2.

CMS and Pomona-Pitzer just faced each other last week, with CMS winning 5-2 to secure the regular season SCIAC title and the right to host the championship.