The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team fell just short of the NCAA Division III Championship for the second-straight season, suffering a 5-2 loss to the University of Chicago in the National Championship match on Wednesday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando Florida.
Despite the setback in their final match of the year, 2021-22 proved to be another banner campaign for the Spartans, who set a program-record for wins in a season with a 25-5 final ledger. CWRU became just the 13th program in Division III to reach the National Championship match in back-to-back years, and claimed the title at the 2022 ITA Indoor National Championship in February. The Spartans suffered just two losses to Division III opponents during the year, both coming against Chicago.
Chicago, which claimed the first NCAA Championship in program history, finished its season with a 22-1 record.
Chicago notched the first point of the match, as Sachin Das and Alex Guzvha bested senior Chaitanya Aduru and junior Michael Sutanto 8-2 in the third doubles contest. CWRU evened the score with a win at second doubles with sophomores Vishwa Aduru and Sahil Dayal (ranked 13th in the Central Region) winning six of the final seven games against Arjun Asokumar and Andrei Leonov to claim an 8-3 victory.
The pivot point came in the first doubles match, which pitted two of the top pairings in the Central Region against each other. Junior James Hopper and graduate student Jonathan Powell, ranked third in the region, quickly fell behind second-ranked Derek Hsieh and Christian Alshon 4-0, but battled back to win the next three games to pull within one, 4-3. Chicago's duo was able to win the next two, however, taking a 6-3 lead, and after a CWRU notched another game win to get back within two, the Maroons won the final two games to claim the match 8-4, and give themselves a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play.
Needing singles wins on four of the six singles courts, the Spartans did what they needed to do in the first set, with Hopper (no. 1 singles), Vishwa Aduru (no. 2 singles), first-year Ansh Shah (no. 3 singles) and Powell (no. 6 singles) each winning their first set, turning the tide and putting the pressure on the Maroons to win a singles match in three sets to win the title. However, the first singles match to be decided was on the fourth court, where Sutanto fell to Guzvha in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Chicago also won at no. 5 singles, with Shramay Dhawan defeating Chaitanya Aduru 6-4, 6-1 to give the Maroons a 4-1 lead.
Vishwa Aduru got a point back for the Spartans, winning 6-4, 6-1 at no. 2 singles to set the score at 4-2. However, Chicago forced a third on the remaining three courts with the Spartans needing to win on each to claim the title.
The match would end up being decided at no. 1 singles between the two-top players in the Central Region in Hopper, ranked first, and Alshon, ranked second. Hopper claimed a 6-3 win in the opening set, but Alshon won the second 6-2 to force the third set. After trading games to open the set, Alshon reeled off three-straight wins to take a 4-1 lead. Hopper won his serve and broke Alshon to pull back within a game, 4-3, but Alshon followed with a break of Hopper and won on serve to clinch the NCAA Championship for Chicago.
CWRU led in the third set on the remaining two courts when play was stopped with Shah up 6-4, 6-7 (6), 2-1 at no. 3 singles over Hsieh, and Powell ahead 7-5, 4-6, 2-1 over Leonov at no. 6 singles.
With the team championship now in the books, the Spartans will turn their attention toward the NCAA Individual Championships, which will begin on Friday morning in Orlando. Hopper, Vishwa Aduru and Shah are all scheduled to compete for CWRU in the 32-person singles draw, while Hopper and Powell qualified the for the 16-pairing doubles draw.
The individual tournaments will begin on Friday, May 27 and run through Sunday, May 29. The full draw, including seedings, will be released after 5:00 p.m. tonight. For more information, including links for live streaming and video, can be found on the tournament website at https://www.ustanationalcampus.com/en/home/collegiate/ncaa-championships.html.
