The second-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team opened play against Division III competition on Saturday, winning all three of its matches, defeating Wittenberg and Wooster 9-0 and 20th-ranked Kenyon 7-2 at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield, Ohio.
The Spartans improved to 3-2 overall following the three wins.
The highlight of the day was the team's strong performance against Kenyon to conclude the day, as the Spartans earned their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season. CWRU won two of the three doubles matches with senior James Hopper and junior Vishwa Aduru claiming an 8-6 triumph against Luis Andres Platas and Eric Zhang at no. 1 doubles and seniors Michael Sutanto and Diego Maza defeating Thomas Kallarakal and Rishil Kondapaneni 8-2 at no. 3 doubles. CWRU's second doubles duo of senior Chris Provenzano and junior Sahil Dayal suffered an 8-4 setback to Eliezer Gonzalez and Paulo Pocasangre Kreling.
CWRU would go on to win the first five singles matches decided to lock in the team win. Hopper earned a 6-4, 6-1 win over Platas, ranked 19th in the Central Region, at no. 1 singles, while Aduru claimed a 6-1, 6-4 win against Kallarakal at no. 2 singles. Adding wins were Sutanto at no. 4 singles (6-2, 6-2 over Pocasangre Kreling), sophomore Ajay Mahenthiran at no. 5 singles (6-3, 6-1 over Zhang), and sophomore Casey Hishinuma at no. 6 singles (7-6, 6-1 over Gonzalez). The team's lone singles setback came in a tightly-played match in the third position, where sophomore Ansh Shah fell to Kondapaneni 7-5, 5-7, 1-0.
Kenyon fell to 1-2 on the year with the loss.
CWRU opened play on Saturday against Wittenberg with three doubles wins, as Hopper and Sutanto bested Jake Stockhausen and Joe Patton 8-3 at no. 1 doubles, Maza and junior Yuvraj Narang defeated Mark Trinka and Ethan Libby 8-2, and seniors John Kasner and Provenzano beat John DeVito and Kyle Fout 8-4. In singles play, the Spartans received wins from Maza over Patton (6-0, 6-2 at no. 1 singles), Dayal over DeVito (6-3, 6-3 at no. 2 singles), first-year Anmay Devaraj over Trinka (6-4, 6-1 at no. 3 singles), Narang over Libby (6-2, 6-3 at no. 4 singles), first-year Justin Prochnow over Stockhausen (6-2, 3-6, 1-0 at no. 5 singles), and junior Daniel French over Fout (6-1, 6-0 at no. 6 singles).
With the loss, the Tigers' record dropped to 0-3 for the campaign.
The Spartans also defeated Wooster by a 9-0 score, opening the match with doubles wins in the first match from Hishinuma and Shah over Alex Drewes and Gabriel Escobar 8-4, Aduru and Prochnow in the second match over Patrick Johnson and Shivam Dewan 8-1, and first-year Rohan Bhat and Mahenthiran in the third match over Connor Streeter and Namit Misra 8-0. CWRU won all six singles matches in straight sets, as Aduru defeated Drewes 6-1, 6-1 in the no. 1 match, Mahenthiran bested Escobar 6-2, 6-2 in the second match, Hishinuma topped Dewan 6-3, 6-0 at no. 3 singles, Bhat claimed a 6-3, 6-2 win over Johnson in the fourth contest, sophomore Ben Martin secured a 6-0, 6-3 win against Misra in the fifth match, and Devaraj earned a 6-0, 6-0 win against Alex Anikeeff at no. 6 singles.
The Spartans will be back in action on Friday, February 17 at home against Hope and John Carroll at noon.
