The top-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team won two of its three matches on Thursday in Florida, besting No. 14 Carnegie Mellon 9-0 at Lake Eva Park and defeating Division I Sacred Heart 4-2 at the USTA National Campus, but falling to Division II Wayne State 5-2 at the USTA National Campus.
The Spartans are now 10-2 overall and 8-0 against Division III competition. The Tartans fall to 5-5 and the Pioneers fall to 3-9. The Warriors improve to 9-2.
No. 1 CWRU 9, Carnegie Mellon 0
In the morning matchup between two top 15 University Athletic Association rivals, CWRU swept Carnegie Mellon. In doubles competition, both the pairings of junior James Hopper and graduate student Jonathan Powell and sophomores Vishwa Aduru and Sahil Dayal took 8-3 wins. Hopper and Powell were victorious at first doubles while Vishwa Aduru and Dayal took the point at second doubles. At third doubles, senior Chaitanya Aduru and junior Michael Sutanto won 8-2.
In singles play, first-year Ansh Shah started with a win by medical retirement at third singles after leading 3-0. Hopper then clinched the match at first singles with a 6-0, 6-1 win. Vishwa Aduru added a 6-0, 6-2 win at second singles and first-year Ajay Mahenthiran picked up a 7-6 (7-6), 6-3 win at sixth singles.
Powell and Sutanto both needed third set tiebreakers to win their matches. Powell won 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 at fifth singles, while Sutanto had a 6-7 (4-6), 7-5, 10-4 win at fourth singles.
The Spartans split up for the two evening matches at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
No. 1 CWRU 4, Sacred Heart 2
Case Western Reserve started with the doubles point against Sacred Heart, winning two of the three doubles matchups. Hopper and sophomore Daniel French prevailed 6-4 at second doubles, while Shah and junior Chris Provenzano won 7-6 at third doubles.
The Spartans took three of the singles matchups to clinch the victory. At first singles, Vishwa Aduru won in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, 1-0, and Shah won 6-2, 6-1 at third singles. Graduate student Anthony Kanam added a win of his own at fifth singles, winning 6-2, 2-6, 1-0.
Wayne State 5, No. 1 CWRU 2
Case Western Reserve struggled with Division II Wayne State, dropping three of the first five singles matches to start the match. Chaitanya Aduru then fell in a third set tiebreaker at second singles to give the Warriors the win. Powell earned a 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) win at fourth singles and senior Max Vicario cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory at sixth singles.
In doubles play, Wayne State earned the final point with wins at first and third doubles. Juniors Diego Maza and John Kasner claimed the only Spartan doubles win, prevailing 8-7 (7-5) at second doubles.
CWRU finishes its Spring Break trip on Friday, facing No. 40 Haverford at 1:30 p.m. and No. 23 Southwestern (Texas) at 6:30 p.m. at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando.
