CLEVELAND – The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team opened its fall season this weekend with split squad action at the Purdue University Fall Invitational in West Lafayette, Indiana and the Oberlin College Invite.

Seven Spartans competed at Purdue and posted a collective singles record of 14-9.

At Purdue, sophomore Joshua Dughi (Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades) went 4-0 to win Flight F. Dughi scored victories over Louis Asser from the University of Memphis, 6-2, 6-3, Thomas Gans from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, 6-4, 6-2, and Brian Sun of the University of Chicago. In the championship match, Dughi defeated his Spartan teammate, junior Viswajit Simhadri (Saratoga, Calif./Lynbrook), to win the flight. Simhadri earned his spot in the final with a trio of straight-set victories over the University of Toledo's Omar Espinosa, 6-4, 7-5, Tennessee Tech University's Alvaro Cintas, 6-2, 6-3, and Western Michigan University's Stephen Payne, 6-4, 6-4. 

In other singles competitions, junior CJ Krimbill (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain) and senior Will Drougas (Roanoke, Va./Salem) each went 2-1 over the three-day event, reaching the semifinals of their respective flights before losing to the eventual flight champion. Krimbill competed in Flight A, while Drougas was placed in Flight D. 

Drougas played alongside freshman Andrew Komarov (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) in doubles play as the duo registered a 2-2 record for the weekend. After losing their initial match, Drougas and Kamarov rebounded to win two consecutive matches before falling to Dave Bacalla and Daniel Oakes of Valparaiso University (Ind.), 8-2.

At Oberlin, a pair of Spartans went 3-0 in singles play, freshman Grant Brown (Colleyville, Texas/Episcopal School of Dallas) and junior Louis Stuerke (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest).

The Spartans will return to action next weekend at the USTA/ITA Regional Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana. The three-day event will be begin on Friday, September 26.