Top-Ranked Men's Tennis Wins Two More on Saturday
The top-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team picked up two more wins in the Chicago area on Saturday, picking up 9-0 wins over both North Central College and the 38th-ranked University of Wisconsin – Whitewater in Naperville, Illinois.
CWRU has now won nine-straight matches and improved to 18-0 against Division III opposition this season. The Spartans stand at 23-4 overall following the two wins on Saturday and are just two wins away from the program's single-season record set last year.
Senior James Hopper and junior Sahil Dayal got the Spartans off to a 1-0 lead against North Central with an 8-2 win over Daniel Estanislao and Matthew Sengphommachanh at second doubles, and seniors Diego Maza and Chris Provenzano added an 8-2 win against Javier Suarez Balsera and Guillermo Gonzalez Fernandez at no. 1 doubles. Junior Vishwa Aduru and senior Michael Sutanto added an 8-3 win over Matt Crossland and Colten Way at third doubles to give CWRU a 3-0 advantage in the match.
Maza earned the Spartans' first singles win of the match, defeating Crossland 6-0, 6-0 in the sixth contest, and Sutanto clinched the win with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Sengphommachanh at second singles. Adding wins in the match for the Spartans were first-year Anmay Devaraj at fifth singles (6-1, 6-2 against Way), sophomore Casey Hishinuma at fourth singles (7-5, 6-0 against Gonzalez Fernandez), Shah at first singles (6-1, 3-6, 10-4 over Suarez Balsera), and sophomore Ajay Mahenthiran at third singles (5-7, 6-2, 10-3 over Estanislao.
North Central fell to 14-6 following the loss.
The second match of the day was a rematch of last year's NCAA Division III Championship Round of 16 match between CWRU and Whitewater, in which the Spartans came from behind to win 5-3 after dropping all three doubles matches. The Spartans were much more successful in doubles play this time around, getting an 8-4 win from Shah and Dayal at third doubles over Parker Hearne and Payton Adkisson, an 8-6 victory from Hopper and Aduru over Luke Vandonslear and John Zakowski (ranked eighth in the region) at no. 1 doubles, and an 8-4 win from Provenzano and Maza at no. 2 doubles against Cole Lindwall and Tyler Nelson.
Mahenthiran defeated Adkisson 6-2, 6-1 at sixth singles to put the Spartans in front 4-0 and Hopper clinched the match for CWRU with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Zakowski (ranked eighth in the region) at no. 1 singles. Hishinuma made it a 6-0 CWRU lead with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Will Ulrich at fifth singles and a 6-3, 6-2 win from Shah over Nelson at no. 4 singles made it 7-0. Rounding out the sweep, Sutanto bested Lindwall 6-2, 6-3 in the third singles match and Aduru topped Vandonslear 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the second singles match.
Wisconsin-Whitewater dropped to 11-4 with the setback.
The Spartans will be back in action next weekend with three matches at home. CWRU will begin the weekend against 22nd-ranked Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday, April 15.
