No. 3 Men’s Tennis Battles, But Falls to Top-Ranked CMS Sunday Night

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Claremont, CA – In a top-three national showdown, the No. 3 Tufts men's tennis team put up a valiant fight against No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps but ultimately came up short in a 5-2 defeat at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Jumbos (7-1) showed their strength in doubles play, striking first with a dominant 6-1 victory at No. 1 doubles from Vuk Vuksanovic and Javier Gonzalez , who took down CMS's top duo of Advik Mareedu and Josh Kim. However, the Stags (11-2) bounced back to claim the next two doubles matches, clinching the doubles point after tight battles at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles—both decided in tiebreakers.

In singles, Tufts fought hard but couldn't quite overcome CMS's depth. Andrej Djokic delivered a gutsy win at No. 5 singles, rallying from a set down to defeat Anirudh Gupta 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Meanwhile, Stavros Mastrogamvrakis earned a three-set victory at No. 6, outlasting Rohan Yarlagadda 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Despite their efforts, the Jumbos saw several close matches go the other way. Lachie Macintosh pushed CMS's Matthew Robinson to a first-set tiebreak before falling 7-6, 6-2 at No. 3, while Derin Acaroglu staged a dramatic second-set comeback at No. 4 but came up just short in a 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 loss to Kim.

At the top of the lineup, Vuksanovic battled No. 1-ranked Mareedu in a high-level match but fell 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Gonzalez, playing at No. 2, also put up a strong effort before dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Warren Pham.

While the loss marks Tufts' first setback of the season, the Jumbos proved they can go toe-to-toe with the nation's top team and will look to build on this experience as they continue their West Coast trip Tuesday against Johns Hopkins University.

--JUMBOS--

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