No. 7 Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

The matchup between the men’s tennis team and the No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags (CMS) team came down to the last match this past Friday.

First year William Turchetta faced down his opponent on the sixth singles court with everything to play for, handling the pressure of a match with national ranking implications, and defeating his opponent in straight sets.

The contest began with an impassioned conflict in doubles. The duo of Sean Wei ’21 and Jason Fung ’20 on the first court took the match eight games to five after being tied at five a piece.

Jesse Letvin ’19 and Oliver Kendall ’19 took their match on the third doubles court after losing the first two games, but CMS won on the second doubles court.

The event then moved to the singles competition where Wei, playing first on the singles ladder, dominated his opponent in straight sets.

Kevin Ma ’21 lost two close sets on court two, 6-3, 6-3. The teams again traded wins on odd and even courts, as Jayson Fung ’21 downed Julian Gordy and Zach Bessette ’19 lost on court four.

Daniel Park of CMS, however, dominated Harris Foulkes ’21 in the second set during their following match — Foulkes never won a game.

This set the stage for Turchetta’s victory, and the Mammoths moved their sights to a Sunday morning clash with Swarthmore College. The competition against Swarthmore, however, had none of the drama of their match against CMS.

Only the pair of Kendall and Letvin, after their crucial win on Friday, fell to the Phoenixes. Amherst swept the singles courts in resounding fashion, winning 47 more games collectively than their Swarthmore opposition.

Amherst also never dropped a set across all six matches.

After the match, Amherst’s two best players received upgrades in their singles rankings.

Wei now holds the 18th overall ranking in DIII singles, while Ma holds the 25th spot.

Amherst, now ranked seventh in the nation, returns to action against Tufts in their home opener on Sunday.