The top-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team celebrated 'Senior Day' on Saturday afternoon with a 7-2 win over 22nd-ranked Carnegie Mellon University at the Carlton Courts in Cleveland, Ohio.
CWRU has now won 10 straight matches and improved to 24-4 overall, including a 19-0 record against Division III opponents. Carnegie Mellon dropped to 6-8 with the loss.
CWRU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after sweeping the three doubles matches, powered by its senior class. Seniors Diego Maza and Chris Provenzano struck first, winning 8-1 at no. 1 doubles against Matthew Poh and Nicholas Wernink, who entered the match ranked 16th in doubles play in the region. At second doubles, seniors John Kasner and James Hopper claimed an 8-5 win over Akshay Joshi and Derek Wong, and a third doubles, senior Michael Sutanto and sophomore Ansh Shah defeated Raahil Doshi and Jaden D'Abreo 8-5.
CWRU quickly clinched the match victory with wins at first and second singles. Hopper claimed the win at no. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Doshi, ranked 10th in the region, and junior Vishwa Aduru defeated Wenink (ranked 16th in the region) 6-3, 6-1 in the second singles match to give CWRU the team victory.
The Tartans got on the board with a win at fourth singles from Poh, 6-4, 6-2 against Shah, but at a win at third singles from Sutanto, 6-2, 6-3 against William Wang extended CWRU's lead to 6-1. Sophomore Ajay Mahenthiran added a 7-5, 7-5 victory at fifth singles over Joshi to put the Spartans in front 7-1. The day was capped off by a thrilling match at sixth singles that went to a tiebreaker set, but Carnegie Mellon's Chaitanya Irkar ultimately pulled off a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 14-12 win over sophomore Casey Hishinuma.
Prior to the start of the match, the Spartans recognized their five senior players – Hopper, Kasner, Maza, Provenzano, and Sutanto – with a special 'Senior Day' ceremony. Together, the group has helped lead the Spartans to back-to-back NCAA Championship match appearances in 2021 and 2022, and to back-to-back ITA Indoor Championships in 2022 and 2023. Included today's win, the Spartans have gone 81-13 over the last four seasons, including a 73-4 record against Division III opponents.
The Spartans will be back in action tomorrow with their final two matches before next weekend's University Athletic Association Championships. CWRU is slated to host Kalamazoo College at 9:30 a.m., followed by an 11:30 a.m. match against Ohio Wesleyan University at the Carlton Courts in Cleveland.
