The top-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team's quest for a third-straight ITA Indoor National Championship was cut short on Saturday afternoon, as the Spartans suffered a 4-3 setback to ninth-ranked Washington University (Mo.) in the semifinals of the event at the Top Seed Tennis Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

The loss was the first of the spring for the Spartans, who fell to 5-1 on the campaign, and ended a stretch of 24-straight wins, dating back to last season. The Bears improved to 3-1 with the win.

With Division I scoring rules in effect, the Bears jumped out to the early lead in the match with wins at no. 1 and no. 3 doubles, with senior Sahil Dayal and sophomore Anmay Devaraj falling to Colin Fox and Gaurav Singh, 6-3 at first doubles and graduate student Michael Sutanto and junior Ansh Shah suffering a 6-3 setback against Pato Garcia Muriel at third doubles. Despite the doubles point being decided, senior Vishwa Aduru and graduate student Diego Maza pulled out a 6-4 win over Sergiu Celebidachi and Jared Phillips at second doubles.

CWRU evened the score with a 6-3, 6-4 win from Maza at no. 6 singles over Fox, before the Bears regained the lead with a win from Phillips at no. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-4 over Aduru and then came within a match of clinching with a 6-3, 7-5 win from Singh over junior Casey Hishinuma at fifth singles.

With CWRU needing wins on each of the remaining three courts, Sutanto defeated Eric Kuo 6-3, 7-5 in the second singles match and junior Ajay Mahenthiran claimed a three-set win at third singles, defeating Celebidachi 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and evening the team score at 3-3. The match came down to a three-set thriller at fourth singles, where Shah dropped the first set 7-6 (5) before claiming a 6-2 victory in the second, but ultimately fell 6-3 in the third set to Colin Scruggs, clinching the team victory for the Bears.

The Spartans will look for a quick bounce back tomorrow when the team faces fifth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 10:30 a.m. in the third-place match. Fans can follow the action with live scoring at https://ioncourt.com/leagues/2024-ita-diii-national-mens-team-indoor-championship and video at https://www.youtube.com/@WeAreCollegeTennis/streams.