The 10th-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team fell to 11th-ranked Wesleyan College 8-1 on Wednesday afternoon to finish sixth at the 2017 Stag Hen Invitational in Claremont, California.
The Spartans ended their Spring Break trip with a 4-2 record in California, and stand at 10-4 overall during the 2017 campaign. Wesleyan improved to 2-1 for the season with the win.
Case Western Reserve struggled early in the match, dropping all three doubles matches. It marked the first time this season the Spartans have been swept in doubles, and just the third time in 14 matches that they have trailed after doubles play. Third doubles was the first to be decided, with sophomore David Zakhodin and freshman Anthony Kanam suffering an 8-3 setback to Steven Chen and Cameron Daniels. At second doubles, seniors Phillip Gruber and James Fojtasek also dropped an 8-3 decision to Tiago Eusabio and Maxwell Smith. Completing the sweep at first doubles were Michael Liu and Jake Roberts, ranked 19th in Division III, with an 8-4 win over senior Fred Daum and sophomore John Benedetto.
In singles play, the first two matches to be decided both went in Wesleyan's favor, clinching the victory for the Cardinals. The first to be completed was the no. 4 singles contest, where Joachim Samson downed CWRU freshman Sam Concannon 6-1, 6-0. Securing the victory for Wesleyan at no. 2 singles was Liu with a 6-3, 6-2 win over freshman Siddharth Rajupet.
Wesleyan added wins at sixth singles, with Princeton Carter topping Kanam 6-3, 6-3, before the Spartans got on the board with a win at fifth singles from senior Kevin Dong, who topped Daniels, ranked 20th in the Northeast Region, 6-4, 6-2. It was the fifth-straight singles win for Dong, who improved to 10-4 overall on the season, including a 9-1 mark in dual matches this spring.
The Cardinals wrapped up the win with victories at third singles from Eusabio over sophomore Rob Stroup, 6-4, 6-3, and at first singles, from Chen (ranked 17th in the Northeast Region) over Fojtasek, 6-2, 7-6.
Case Western Reserve will have the next 10 days off, before returning to action on Saturday, March 25th at 1:00 p.m. at 20th-ranked Kenyon College.
