The 13th-ranked Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team dropped a thrilling match to #12 Sewanee in the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship Second Round, falling 5-4 on the Upper Courts on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, on Saturday afternoon.
The Spartans ended their season with a record of 15-6. CWRU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the second straight season and earned its second all-time win in postseason play yesterday. The Tigers improved to 19-5 and will play #7 Emory in the Round of 16 on Sunday.
The Tigers earned the first point of the day with a win at third doubles, as sophomore Anna Kan and senior Nina Hoog fell to Nicole Nowak and Emma Smith 8-5. CWRU tied the score at first doubles when sophomores Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey bested Brooke Despriet and Katherine Petty 8-6. However, Sewanee took a 2-1 lead into singles play when Ansley Carpenter and Natalia Nassar defeated sophomore Radha Patel and first-year Katalina Wang 8-6 at second doubles.
Kassaie tied the match score with a win at first singles, defeating Smith 6-2, 6-2. Kan bested Sarah Livingston 6-2, 6-1 at fifth singles to put the Spartans ahead 3-2. The Tigers then tied the match with a win at fourth singles when Petty beat Wang 6-1, 6-4.
CWRU reclaimed the lead with a win at second singles, putting the team one victory away from clinching the match. McCloskey prevailed over Carpenter 6-3, 6-3 to make the overall match score 4-3. A 6-1, 6-2 win at sixth singles by Nassar over first-year Elsa Syed tied the score at four, moving the attention to the third singles match between Patel and Despriet. After dropping the first set 2-6, Patel kept the second set close, trailing just 4-5. However, she was unable to keep the match going, falling in the set 4-6.
Though the match ends the season for CWRU as a team, Kassaie and McCloskey will compete at NCAA individual championships to be held from May 19-22 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The duo will compete in the 16-team doubles championship, and Kassaie will also take part in the 32-person singles championship. The complete draw for the individual championships will be released by the NCAA on Thursday, May 18 by 1 p.m.
