For the third season in a row, the Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team qualified for the NCAA Championship, matching its best finish in program history during the 2023-24 campaign. CWRU ended the season with a 15-7 record in dual matches with two of its team members named All-Americans.
After winning 14 of 20 matches during the regular season, the Spartans received an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history. Following a first round bye (the team's second ever), Case Western Reserve defeated then 14th-ranked Carleton 5-0 in Whitewater, Wisconsin, to advance to the round of 16. In the regional final, CWRU faced University Athletic Association foe and then third-ranked Chicago, falling to the Maroons 5-1. Chicago would win the national championship, its first in program history.
Juniors Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey were selected to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, held at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis. Both received All-America honors with Kassaie recognized for her play in singles and doubles and McCloskey for her doubles play. The duo, who were seeded third in the 16-team doubles draw, fell in straight sets in the first round. Kassaie, seeded sixth in the 32-person singles draw, won her first match 6-4, 7-6 (3) over Raine Weis of Christopher Newport. She lost her round of 16 match in two sets. The All-America honors were the fifth and sixth of Kassaie's career, making her the most decorated player in program history. McCloskey received her third career national honor, the third-most in CWRU women's tennis history behind Kassaie and Madeleine Paolucci (five).
Earlier in the season, the team matched its best-ever finish in the UAA, placing fourth in the conference at the 2024 UAA Championship. Played at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida, the fourth-seeded Spartans avenged a loss earlier in the season to fifth-seeded Carnegie Mellon, defeating the Tartans 5-3 in the quarterfinals. Following a loss in the semifinals to top-seeded Chicago, CWRU battled third-seeded WashU in the Third-Place Match. Despite tying the overall match score at two, the Spartans fell to the Bears 5-2 to place fourth.
CWRU faced one of the toughest schedules in Division III with 15 matches played against teams ranked nationally by the ITA at the time of first serve and 16 matches against teams ranked in the top 50 at the end of the season. The Spartans went 9-7 in those 16 contests with three of those losses coming against Chicago. CWRU finished the season ranked 11th in Division III, matching its highest-ever national ranking.
In the fall portion of the team's schedule, Kassaie made program history, qualifying for the prestigious ITA Cup. She became the first-ever singles player to reach the national stage after reaching the finals of the ITA Central Regional Championship. Though Kassaie dropped her first match in Rome, Georgia, she responded by reaching the consolation final with a pair of wins.
Case Western Reserve won five of its six dual matches to start the spring season, including a victory over then 20th-ranked Denison. The team traveled to Texas during spring break, falling to fifth-ranked Wesleyan and 16th-ranked host Trinity but defeating 31st-ranked Skidmore. The Spartans then won their next six matches, including all three at the Blue Gray Invite in Fredericksburg, Virginia, over ranked opponents. A trip to the Windy City concluded the regular season, with CWRU defeating 25th-ranked North Central after falling to the Maroons for the first time.
Kassaie ended her three-year career with the Spartans as the program's all-time leader in career singles wins (68), career singles winning percentage (.861), and career doubles winning percentage (.808) and ranked third in program history in career doubles wins (63). During the 2023-24 season, she tied her program record with 24 singles victories, going 24-5 during the season, and set the program record with 26 doubles wins, going 26-4 in doubles matches. She was named the UAA Player of the Year and received her fifth and sixth All-UAA First Team selections at the end of the season. At the NCAA Championships, Kassaie received the Elite 90 Award for the second time, becoming just the third Division III women's tennis student-athlete to be a multiple-time honoree. She ended the season ranked fourth nationally in doubles play at 17th nationally in singles play.
McCloskey had a 25-4 mark in doubles play during the season, the second-most wins in program history, and had a 16-2 record at first doubles. She currently ranks third in program history with 63 doubles wins, needing 14 to set a new program record in her final season. In singles play, she went 15-8, improving her career record to 41-22. In addition to receiving All-America honors, McCloskey was named to the All-UAA First Team for her play at first doubles and All-UAA Second Team for her play at second singles, the fifth and sixth all conference honors of her career. Academically, she was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America First Team for the second time and received UAA All-Academic recognition with a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average. McCloskey was ranked fourth nationally in doubles play and eighth regionally for her singles play.
Junior Radha Patel and sophomore Katalina Wang ranked as the ninth-best doubles pair in the Central Region by the ITA at the end of the season. The partnership won 13 of its 21 matches during the year, including an 8-6 record as the team's second doubles pair. Patel had an overall doubles record of 15-9 and a 15-7 singles record, appearing in four of the six singles spots during the campaign. Wang went 11-9 in singles play and 15-9 in doubles play, appearing in all three doubles positions in dual matches during the season.
Senior Pallavi Goculdas won 24 doubles matches during her final season with the Spartans, the third-most wins in program history. She went 24-6 in 2023-24, ending her career with 47 doubles wins. Goculdas was also undefeated in singles play, winning all six of her singles matches. Junior Anna Kan was a top contributor as well, going 21-7 in doubles matches and 15-6 in singles matches. She mostly played at fourth singles and split time evenly between second and third doubles. The final Spartan with at least 10 singles and 10 doubles wins was sophomore Asha Shukla, who went 12-9 in singles play and 10-3 in doubles play.
Other contributors included sophomore Elsa Syed (14-2 singles record), senior Chloe Ku (12-2 singles record), and senior Katherine Wang (15-1 doubles record). Sophomore Ellior Rose did not lose a match for the second consecutive season (6-0 singles, 3-0 doubles records), and first-year players Prachi Shah and Kareena Sivanesan combined to go 15-2 in singles play and 8-1 in doubles play during their debut seasons.
Kassaie, McCloskey, Goculdas, and Patel were named to the CSC Academic All-District Team for the second consecutive season. In addition to those four student-athletes, Kan, Ku, Rose, Shukla, Syed, Katalina Wang, and Katherine Wang received UAA All-Academic recognition.
The Spartans earned the following honors during the 2023-24 season:
The following were the Spartans' statistical leaders during the 2023-24 season:
*single-season program record
The following Spartans were featured in the final ITA rankings:
