The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team, ranked second in Division III, opened its 2023 spring campaign on Friday, suffering a pair of losses to quality opponents, falling 5-2 to Wayne State (ranked fifth in Division III) and 4-2 to Northwestern Ohio (the 2022 NAIA runner-up) at the Duchene Athletic Facility in Detroit, Michigan.
The Spartans fell to 0-2 following the two losses.
In the opening match against Wayne State, senior James Hopper and junior Vishwa Aduru defeated Cedric Drenth and Daniel Grey 7-6 (4) at no. 1 doubles, but the Warriors won the other two matches to claim the doubles point. Hopper went on to win the no. 1 singles match 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 over Drenth, and sophomore Ansh Shah claimed a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 win against Dom Spicer at no. 3 singles. However, CWRU dropped the other four singles matches, including hard-fought three-set losses at fifth and sixth singles.
Wayne State improved to 3-1 following the win.
CWRU swept the three doubles matches against Northwestern Ohio to claim the one doubles point in the team score. Hopper and Aduru won 6-0 at no. 1 singles over Malik Omarkhanov and Martin Stanchev, senior Chris Provenzano and junior Sahil Dayal won 6-0 at no. 2 doubles over Nils Messin and Mike Stieler, and seniors Michael Sutanto and Diego Maza bested Giovanni Branchetti and Sergio Conde 7-6 at no. 3 doubles. However, the Racers went on to win four of the five singles matches that were completed to clinch the team win with Sutanto's 6-1, 6-2 win at no. 2 singles marking the only Spartan victory. First-year Anmay Devaraj was leading 6-2, 3-1 at no. 6 singles when play was stopped.
Northwestern Ohio raised its record to 3-2 following the win.
The Spartans will look to rebound when they return home tomorrow to the Mayfield Village Racquet Club for three matches against Division III opponents. CWRU will host Wittenberg at 2:00 p.m., Wooster at 3:00 p.m., and 20th-ranked Kenyon at 4:30 p.m.
