The Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team, ranked 12th in Division III, won its seventh straight match to start the 2023 campaign, defeating #27 Kenyon College 6-3 at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield, Ohio, on Sunday evening.

With the win, the Spartans improved to 7-0 on the season and 4-0 against ranked opponents. The Owls fell to 2-1.

Kenyon started the match with a win at second doubles. Erika Pontillo and Allaire Berl bested sophomore Radha Patel and first-year Katalina Wang 8-2 to give the Owls an early lead. However, CWRU won the next two doubles matches to take a lead heading into singles play. At first doubles, sophomores Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey won 8-4 over Eleni Dakos and Eleni Lazaridou, and at third doubles, senior Nina Hoog and sophomore Anna Kan defeated Natalie Connelly and Shadia Amado Aguad 8-4.

Kenyon tied the score at two with a win at fourth singles, as Dakos defeated Wang 4-6, 2-6. CWRU immediately responded as junior Pallavi Goculdas earned a 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 win over Pontillo at sixth singles. Kan put the Spartans one win away from clinching the match with a victory at fifth singles, besting Lalasa Nagireddy 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Patel delivered the clinching point by beating Amado Aguad 6-4, 6-4 at third singles.

McCloskey added to the lead with a come-from-behind 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 10-8 win over Berl at second singles. Kenyon ended the match with a win at first singles, as Lazaridou bested Kassaie 6-2, 4-6, 4-6.

CWRU will travel to Nicholasville, Kentucky, on Friday, March 3 for the team's first ever appearance in the ITA Division III National Women's Indoor Team Championship. The Spartans, seeded eighth, will face top-seeded and top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 9 a.m.