The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team nearly pulled off an upset over Division I Cleveland State University on Saturday morning, but the Spartans were ultimately edged out 4-3 by the Vikings at the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion in Cleveland, Ohio.

The loss dropped the Spartans to 5-2 on the year, while Cleveland State improved to 10-4.

The Spartans struck first in doubles action, with the duo of sophomore James Hopper and senior Matthew Chen defeating Nico Mostardi and Luke Phillips 6-4 at no. 1 doubles. However, the Vikings would win the other two doubles contests to claim the team point, as Maxime Hay-Mareschal and Matthew Terry bested senior Neil Mabee and junior Chaitanya Aduru 6-4 at no. 2 doubles, and Clark Bilinovich and Kade Mindry added a 6-3 victory against seniors Anthony Kanam and Jonathan Powell at no. 3 doubles.

CWRU picked up wins in the first two doubles matches to take a 2-1 advantage over Cleveland State. In the fifth singles match, Chaitanya Aduru defeated Jack Stantilli 6-1, 6-1, and Hopper followed at no. 1 singles with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Terry. The Vikings evened the score with a 7-6, 6-3 win from Bilinovich over Powell at fourth singles.

With the score tied at 3-3, Kanam would secure the win at fifth singles over Mindry, 7-5, 6-2, to put the Spartans a win away from the upset. However, Phillips claimed a 7-6, 7-5 win at second singles over first-year Vishwa Aduru, and in the third singles match, Mareschal-Hay was able to come-from-behind to defeat Chen in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, to clinch the victory for Cleveland State.

The Spartans are scheduled to be off until Friday, April 16, when the team will return to action with a road match at the University of Findlay, slated for a 3:00 p.m. start.