The Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team, ranked 12th in Division III, made its long-awaited NCAA Division III Championship debut on Friday afternoon, claiming a 5-1 win over 24th-ranked Denison University at the Carlton Courts in Cleveland, Ohio.
After receiving a first-round bye, the Spartans secured the second-round win on Friday to earn a spot in Saturday's third-round match against fourth-ranked Claremont-Mudd Scripps, which defeated SUNY Oneonta 5-0 earlier in the day.
CWRU improved to 17-4 on the season following the win, and are just one victory away from matching the program's single-season record, set with an 18-6 campaign in 2012. Denison dropped to 15-8 following the loss.
The Spartans came out of doubles play with a 2-1 lead behind wins from the squads' first and third doubles pairings. At third doubles, Katherine Wang and Radha Patel got CWRU on the board with an 8-3 win over Hannah Bradvica and Kendall Schrader, and Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey extended the Spartans' lead to 2-0 with an 8-6 win at first doubles over Syndey Cianciola and Sarah Robertson. Denison pulled back within a point following an 8-6 win from Monique Brual and Caroline Lopez at second doubles over Nina Hoog and Pallavi Goculdas.
CWRU's Anna Kan quickly added a point at fifth singles, winning after her opponent retired due to injury. Patel was dominant at third singles, winning 6-0, 6-1 against Brual to put the Spartans ahead 4-1. Shortly thereafter, Madeleine Eiss clinched the win for CWRU with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Susan Biederstedt.
At the time the match ended, CWRU was up a set on two of the three remaining courts, with Kassaie leading Cianciola 6-1, 5-2 at first singles and Savannah Bright leading Bradvica 6-1, 4-3 at fourth singles. After dropping the first set at second singles 6-3 to Robinson, McCloskey was even 3-3 in the second set when play was stopped.
Saturday's third round match between the Spartans and the Athenas is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at the Carlton Courts. Fans can follow the action with live results at https://ioncourt.com/ties/627efd0c2a9b97523edf986a. With the potential for rain in the forecast, make sure to check back at athletics.case.edu for updates to the time and location of the match if needed to be moved indoors.
