The third-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team opened its title defense with a 5-0 win over the Illinois Institute of Technology in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship at the Medical Mutual Tennis Center in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday morning.

The Spartans, who improved to 26-5 with the win, will now await the winner of the other second-round match between 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins and 17th-ranked Mary Washington, which will take place later on Saturday.

CWRU's third doubles pairing of senior Daniel French and junior Ansh Shah got the Spartans on the board with an 8-0 win over Danial Zindani and Avneet Singh, and senior Vishwa Aduru and graduate student Diego Maza (ranked third in Division III) added to the advantage with an 8-0 victory over Jordan Lauer and Eduardo Lopez. At second doubles, the 17th-ranked duo of senior Sahil Dayal and sophomore Anmay Devaraj trailed Pol Dueso-Guell and Nabil Fawaz 5-3, but rallied off five-straight games to win 8-3 and complete the Spartans' doubles sweep.

The Spartans would put a quick end to the contest with a pair of victories in singles play, as graduate student Diego Maza bested Zindani 6-1, 6-0 at sixth singles, and junior Casey Hishinuma, ranked 46th in Division III, topped Singh 6-0, 6-0 at fifth singles to clinch the victory.

CWRU led by a set on the remaining four courts when play was stopped due to decision. At no. 1 singles, junior Ajay Mahenthiran was ahead 6-2, 2-3 against Fawaz, while Aduru led Dueso-Guell 6-1, 3-0 at no. 2 singles. In the third singles match, graduate student Michael Sutanto held a 6-4, 4-1 advantage over Lopez and Shah was ahead of Lauer 6-0, 4-0 at fourth singles.

This marked the fourth straight season and the seventh time overall that CWRU has reached the round of 16 of the NCAA Championship.

Illinois Tech saw its 2024 campaign come to a close with a 13-10 overall record.

Sunday's round of 16 match is scheduled for a noon start at the Carlton Courts in Cleveland. More information, including a link to live results from the match, will be posted to the tournament web page at https://athletics.case.edu/NCAATennis.