The Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team defeated Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania 7-2 at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield, Ohio on Saturday evening.
The Spartans improve to 9-1 on the season, while the 19th-ranked Crimson Hawks fall to 5-3.
After dropping a point at second doubles, CWRU took the next two doubles matches to carry a 2-1 lead into singles play. First-years Lily McCloskey and Radha Patel evened the score for Case Western Reserve, defeating Laura Dunarova and Lydia Vlachou at third doubles 8-4. Junior Savannah Bright and first-year Hannah Kassaie followed with a win over Karolin Kirchtag and Katy Graydon, the 10th-best doubles pairing in Division II, at first doubles 8-2. The lone doubles loss was at second doubles as first-year Anna Kan and sophomore Katherine Wang fell 0-8 to Natasha Munday and Joanna Stralka, the 14th-best doubles team in Division II.
McCloskey started singles play by taking down Munday, the 38th-best singles player in Division II, 6-3, 6-2 at second singles to expand the Spartan lead. Patel followed with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Graydon at fourth singles. At first singles, Kassaie clinched the match by defeating Stralka 7-6, 6-1. At fifth singles, first-year Madeleine Eiss increased the CWRU margin with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Vlachou. Sophomore Pallavi Goculdas finished the match at sixth singles with a hard-earned 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 win over Dunarova.
Bright fell to Kirchtag, the 26th-best singles player in Division II, 3-6, 3-6 at third singles.
The Spartans will be off from competition until Friday, March 18 when the team travels to Fredericksburg, Virginia for the Blue-Grey Invitational. CWRU will face host Mary Washington on Friday at 5:30 p.m., Skidmore on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., and Washington and Lee on Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
