No. 7 Tartans Fall to No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 6-3

(CLAREMONT, Calif.) - The seventh-ranked Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team faced second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday, March 9 on the Stags home court, falling 6-3 to move its record to 6-5.

The Tartans third doubles team of seniors Yuvraj Kumar (New Delhi, India/Millfield School) and Abhishek Alla (Hyderabad, India/IMG Pendleton School) won 8-4 to tie the match score at 1-1 before the Stags won at second doubles in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-3).

After the Stags made it 3-1 during singles play, freshman Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill./Boca Prep International School) won his second singles match, 6-4, 6-3, to bring the score to 3-2.

Junior Kenny Zheng (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) dropped a close match at fourth singles, 6-4, 6-3, before the Stags secured the win with a three-set win at third singles against freshman Vayum Arora (Fremont, Calif./Mission San Jose), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The Tartans final win came from Alla at first singles against the third-ranked singles player in the nation, Skyler Butts, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Alla and Butts have a brief history as they faced off in the ITA National Small College Singles Championship in 2013 with Alla winning 6-4, 6-1.

The Tartans continue play on Thursday with two matches against George Fox University and Wabash College in California.