The Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team opened their 2021 spring season with a 7-2 win against the University of Northwestern Ohio at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield Village, Ohio on Friday afternoon.
The Spartans improved to 1-0 on the campaign with the win, while the Racers dropped to 6-4 on the season.
CWRU grabbed the early lead in the match, with sophomore Shreya Ramani and first-year Katherine Wang winning by default over Northwestern Ohio at third doubles, followed by an 8-2 victory at second doubles for senior Nicole Cardwell and first-year Chloe Ku over Veronika Kovalchuk and Gabriela Eva. At first doubles, senior Madeleine Paolucci and sophomore Savannah Bright fell to Camila Puente and Ana Cetina to make it a 2-1 score heading into singles play.
Cardwell won by default at sixth singles to push the score to 3-1. First-year Pallavi Goculdas bested Kovalchuk 6-1, 6-4 at third singles and Bright claimed a 6-2, 6-2 win over Cetina at second doubles. After a loss at fourth singles, senior Mira Amin came back to win the fifth singles match (7-5, 6-2) over Ellen Sandstrom. The Spartans closed out the victory at first singles, as Paolucci notched her 44th-career singles victory (6-3, 6-3) over Puente.
Case Western Reserve will continue action this weekend as they travel to Granville, Ohio to face Denison University at the Mitchell Fieldhouse for a 12:00 p.m. meeting on Sunday, February 28th.
