The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the 2021 campaign on Friday afternoon, as the Spartans fell to the University of Northwestern Ohio, an NAIA school, 5-4 at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield Village, Ohio.

The loss dropped the Spartans to 3-1 on the year, while the Racers improved to 8-3.

At no. 1 doubles, CWRU's duo of sophomore James Hopper and senior Jonathan Powell gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead with an 8-3 win over Sergio Conde and Marcos Salazar. However, Northwestern Ohio's third doubles duo of Malik Omarkhanov and David Ayguavives evened the score at 1-1 with an 8-4 win over senior Matthew Chen and junior Chaitanya Aduru at no. 3 doubles, and the Racers' duo of Alfredo Barcelo and Alex de Vilar eked out an 8-7 (4) win over seniors Neil Mabee and Anthony Kanam at no. 3 doubles to give Northwestern Ohio a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play.

The Racers extended their lead with a win at no. 4 singles, where Martin Stanchev defeated Powell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, and at no. 3 singles, where Omarkhanov bested Chen 6-4, 6-1, requiring the Spartans to win on all remaining singles courts in order to secure a victory.

CWRU inched back into the match with a win at fifth singles, as Chaitanya Aduru topped de Villar 6-3, 6-4. Hopper pulled the Spartans back within a match with a come-from-behind win over Conde at no. 1 singles, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

However, the clinching point came at second singles for the Racers, where Salazar bounced back from a first set loss to defeat first-year Vishwa Aduru 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

The Spartans would get one final match victory on the day, as Kanam defeated Aygyavives at sixth singles, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

The Spartans will look to bounce back when they travel to Dayton, Ohio on Saturday to face Wittenberg College for two matches at the Five Seasons Country Club. Play on Saturday is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.