The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team, ranked 11th in Division III, completed a weekend sweep with a 6-3 win over 31st-ranked Lewis & Clark College in Gambier, Ohio on Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans raised their overall record to 12-4 with the victory, as the team picked up its fourth win of the season against a nationally-ranked opponent. The Pioneers dropped to 9-2 with Sunday's loss.
Case Western Reserve jumped out to an early lead with wins in two of the three doubles matches. In the first match, sophomore John Benedetto and senior Fred Daum topped Brenden Barrows and Gordon Barrows 9-7, while seniors Phillip Gruber and James Fojtasek added an 8-4 win over Raed Attia and Michael Brewer at no. 2 doubles. The Pioneers claimed a win at third doubles, with Ben DeLuca and Jackson Powell topping freshman Anthony Kanam and sophomore David Zakhodin 9-7.
The Spartans would go on to claim wins in four of the six singles matches, paced by a 7-5, 6-3 victory from Fojtasek over Attia at no. 1 singles. Other victories came from sophomore Rob Stroup, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 over Gordon Barrows at no. 3 singles, senior Josh Dughi, 6-3, 6-3 over Brenden Barrows at no. 5 singles, and freshman Sam Concannon, 6-4, 6-4 over Kei Inoue at no. 6 singles.
Case Western Reserve's two singles setbacks came at no. 2 singles, where Brewer topped freshman Siddharth Rajupet 6-4, 6-2, and at no. 4 singles, where Jackson Powell bested senior Kevin Dong 6-4, 6-1.
The win capped off a solid weekend for the Spartans, which included a 5-4 victory over Kenyon College on Saturday.
Case Western Reserve will be back in action next weekend, hosting SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, April 1st.
