The top-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team did not miss a beat after returning to action for the first time in over two weeks, defeating 14th-ranked Denison University 7-2 on Friday afternoon on neutral ground at the Aspen Racquet Club in Wooster, Ohio.
The Spartans improved to 19-4 overall with the win, including a perfect 14-0 record against Division III opponents this season. The loss was just the third of the season for the Big Red, who fell to 14-3 overall.
CWRU swept the three doubles matches to take an early 3-0 on Friday afternoon. Senior James Hopper and junior Vishwa Aduru, ranked first in the Central Region, put the Spartans on the board with an 8-1 win over Jack Bulger and Andy Mackler at no. 1 doubles. Seniors Diego Maza and Chris Provenzano added to the lead with an 8-5 win at third doubles over Andreas Chapides and Jacob Patterson, and in the second doubles match, sophomore Ansh Shah and junior Sahil Dayal eked out an 8-7 (5) win over Ethan Green and Camden French.
Hopper, ranked first in the region, put CWRU ahead 4-0 with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Bulger (ranked 12th) at no. 1 singles, and the match was clinched at fourth singles, where Shah (ranked 14th) defeated Zachary Portnoy 6-3, 6-2.
Denison pulled closer in the match as Patterson defeated Aduru 6-4, 6-1 at second singles and Chapides bested sophomore Casey Hishinuma 6-2, 7-6 (5) at fifth singles. However, CWRU added to the win with victories from sophomore Ajay Mahenthiran at sixth singles (2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-5 over Green) and senior Michael Sutanto at third singles (7-6 (2), 6-2 over Kael Shah).
Case Western Reserve will be back in action next Friday, April 7, facing Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Lake Forest in Lake Forrest, Illinois.
