The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team battled to the end, but ultimately fell short in the NCAA Division III National Championship Match, dropping a 5-2 decision to Emory University at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon.
The loss puts an end to a historic, albeit shorter than usual, season for the Spartans. The team's national second-place finish is the best in the history of Case Western Reserve University athletics and marks the first time that a CWRU team has advanced past the quarterfinal of the NCAA Championships. The loss was the Spartans' first against a Division III team this season, as CWRU ended its campaign with a 14-3 overall record.
The Spartans were thrown an early curve, as senior Matthew Chen, who along with sophomore James Hopper made up the top-ranked doubles team in the Central Region, fell ill prior to the match, forcing CWRU to shake up its doubles lineup. CWRU's usual second and third doubles teams each had to move up a slot in the lineup, while Hopper slid down to the third doubles match, where he paired with first-year Vishwa Aduru.
At no. 1 doubles, seniors Neil Mabee and Jonathan Powell notched the first break of the match to take a 4-2 lead. However, the Emory duo of Hayden Cassone and Antonio Mora (the top-ranked pair in the Atlantic South Region) stormed back, winning six-straight games from that point to win the match 8-4, and give the Eagles a 1-0 advantage. The Eagles extended their lead to 2-0 with an 8-4 win at second doubles by Andrew Esses and Will Wanner over junior Chaitanya Aduru and senior Anthony Kanam.
The third doubles match remained on serve through the first nine games, until a break at 5-4 by Hopper and Vishwa Aduru put them in front by two games against Sahil Raina and Nolan Shah. The Spartans' duo would go on to win the next two games as well, winning the match 8-4, and getting CWRU back within a point heading into singles play.
Emory notched the first point in singles, as Esses topped Chen, who returned to action in at no. 3 singles, 6-3, 6-0. The Spartans got a point back at no. 1 singles, where Hopper, ranked first in the Central Region, bested Cassone, ranked first in the Atlantic South Region, 6-0, 6-3. However, a 6-0, 6-4 win by Wanner at no. 4 singles against Chaitanya Aduru put the Eagles on the brink of clinching. It was the first singles loss of the season for Aduru and ended his 23-match winning streak.
The match would be decided at sixth singles, where Shah bested Kanam in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, clinching the National Championship for Emory.
The remaining two matches were each in their third sets, when play was stopped after the match was decided. At second singles, Vishwa Aduru fought hard against Mora, battling back from a 6-1 setback in the first set to win the second set 6-4, and force a third and deciding set. However, Aduru fell behind 3-0 and 5-2 the third set, and fought off two potential clinching games to get back within a set, 5-4. He also fended off five championship-clinching points from Mora in the next game to keep the Spartans' hopes alive, with the game ending in deuce.
At fifth singles, Powell claimed a 6-4 win in the first set, before dropping the second set 6-4. He was trailing 4-3 in the third set when play was stopped.
Emory improved to 10-3 overall following the win and claimed the sixth title in the program's history.
With team competition complete, Hopper and Chen will now turn their attention to the NCAA Individual Championships, which are slated to begin this Friday, and wrap-up on Sunday. Hopper is the second-seeded player in the 32-player singles draw and will begin play at 11:00 a.m. on Friday against Methodist's Jordan Theron. Should he win, he will advance to the second round later in the day, where he will face the winner of the first-round match between Denison's Tim Cianciola and Colby's Jan Wenger.
Hopper and Chen are also the top-seeded duo in the 16-pairing doubles draw, and open play on Friday at 5:00 p.m. against Moses Hutchison and Andrew Watson of Mary Washington in the first round. Should they advance, they will take on the winner of the first-round match between Ryan Macy and Alex Strause of Christopher Newport and Jeffrey Chen and Adam Tzeng of Brandeis in the quarterfinals.
More information on the NCAA Individual Championships, including full brackets is available on the official tournament website at https://sewaneetigers.com/tournaments/tennis/2020-21/index.
