The 12th-ranked Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team defeated 19th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis 5-2 in the quarterfinal round of the University Athletic Association Championship at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Spartans improve to 16-2 on the season while the fifth-seeded Bears fall to 14-8.

Case Western Reserve started with a sweep of the doubles matches. First-years Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey recorded an 8-4 win over Karen Gao and Ainsley Heidbreder at first doubles. At third doubles, junior Savannah Bright and sophomore Katherine Wang defeated Maggie Yang and Carolyn Tsung 8-6, claiming the last two points in the set for the win. The Spartans completed the sweep at second doubles, with sophomore Pallavi Goculdas and junior Nina Hoog taking down Katherine Johnston and Divya Sharma 8-7 (8-2).

After the Bears claimed their first team point at fifth singles, Kassaie put CWRU one point away from the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Gao at first singles. At sixth singles, first-year Madeleine Eiss clinched the victory with a thrilling three-set win over Tsung. After falling 1-6 in the first set, Eiss rebounded with a 6-4 win in the second to force a decisive third set. In the final set, she won 6-2 to give the Spartans the win.

At the time the match ended, McCloskey was leading Sharma 1-6, 6-4, 4-1 at second singles, and first-year Radha Patel was up 7-6 (7-2), 6-6 over Sophia Huynh at third singles.

CWRU will face top-seeded and nationally top-ranked University of Chicago in the semifinal round on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Spartans have secured at least fourth place in the final conference standings, which would be the best finish in program history. Live stats for the match can be found at http://apps.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/athletics/scoring/wsoccer/xlive.htm