The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team, ranked 12th in Division III, won a pair of matches on Saturday, defeating Wheaton College (Ill.) 7-2 and claiming an 8-1 win over the College of Wooster.
The two wins raised the Spartans' season record 16-4 overall, as the team increased its winning streak to six-straight matches, marking its longest winning streak of the season.
In the first match of the day, played at the Medical Mutual Pavilion on the Cleveland State University campus, the Spartans won two of the three doubles matches and five of the six singles contests to pick up the 7-2 win over the Thunder. Claiming doubles wins for CWRU were the no. 2 doubles team of seniors James Fojtasek and Phillip Gruber, 8-1 over Dane Paulsen and Jeremiah Yi, and the no. 3 team of sophomore David Zakhodin and freshman Zach Hennessey, 8-3 over Karl Wenzel and Andrew Bristol. The team's only doubles loss was at no. 1 doubles, where senior Fred Daum and sophomore John Benedetto fell to Justin Ancona and Matt Steiner 8-5.
Four of the Spartans' five singles wins were in straight sets, including a 6-4, 6-4 win from freshman Siddharth Rajupet over Paulsen in the second match, identical 6-0, 6-2 wins from senior Kevin Dong over Yi at fourth singles and senior Josh Dughi over Josh Cheng at fifth singles, and a perfect 6-0, 6-0 victory from freshman Sam Concannon at sixth singles over Andrew Torok. At third singles, sophomore Rob Stroup came from behind to top Steiner 2-6, 6-4, 10-5. The Spartans' lone loss in singles play came in the no. 1 match, where Fojtasek dropped a 6-3, 6-3 match to Ancona.
Wheaton fell to 8-6 on the year with the loss.
In the late match against Wooster, played on the outdoor courts at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, the Spartans swept all three doubles matches and five of the six singles contests to claim the 8-1 win over the Fighting Scots. In doubles play, Benedetto and Daum defeated Jack Buchan and Davis Elkins 8-6 at no. 1 doubles, Fojtasek and Gruber topped Titas Bera and Jesse DeWitt 8-5 at no. 2 doubles, and Zakhdoin and freshman Anthony Kanam claimed an 8-1 win at no. 3 doubles over Nathan Devereux and Andrew Long.
In singles action, Concannon defeated Buchan 6-4, 6-4 in the second match, Kanam followed with a 7-5, 6-1 victory at no. 3 singles. Senior Adam Collins earned a 6-1, 6-2 win in the fourth match, while Hennessey topped Devereux 7-5, 6-2 at fifth singles, and freshman Rajeev Laungani earned a 6-0, 6-0 win over Long at sixth singles. The Spartans' lone singles setback was in the first match, where Rajupet suffered a 7-6, 6-4 setback to Bera.
The loss moved Wooster's season record to 6-14.
The Spartans will return to action on Sunday, April 9th, hosting Oberlin College at 11:00 a.m. at the Carlton Courts on the CWRU campus.
