The fourth-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team defeated ninth-ranked Swarthmore 4-3 on Friday morning in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 ITA Division III National Men's Team Indoor Championship held at the Swanson Tennis Center on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus University in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
The Spartans, who are seeded third in the eight-team draw, improved to 7-2 overall and 7-0 against Division III opponents. CWRU will face either second-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps or seventh-seeded Trinity (Texas) in the semifinal on Saturday. The Stags and Tigers begin their quarterfinal matchup at 1 p.m. ET on Friday. The Garnet fell to 0-1 in 2025.
CWRU played from behind, dropping the doubles point after losing two of the three doubles matches. Sophomores Trey Lambright and George Kosseifi were defeated 6-1 by Max Lindstrom and Rishi Verma at third doubles to start the competition. Then, at first doubles, junior Anmay Devaraj and senior Casey Hishinuma dropped a 6-3 decision to Purushotham Koduri and Michael Melnikov, allowing Swarthmore to secure the advantage. Sophomores Santiago Salazar Garza and Derek Shiffer defeated Kai Chen and Max Pogorelov at second doubles, 6-2, after the point had been decided.
Needing to win four of the six singles matches to advance to the semifinals, the Spartans won the first set on courts three, four, five, and six. However, the Garnet earned the first singles point with Melnikov taking a 4-6, 3-6 win over senior Ajay Mahenthiran at first singles.
Case Western Reserve earned its first point of the match at fourth singles, where junior Matthew Plunkett defeated Lalith Suresh, 6-3, 6-2. Salazar Garza evened the score at two with a victory at sixth singles, defeating Dylan Hayes Gilbert, 6-3, 6-3, and Devaraj put the Spartans ahead 3-2 with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Verma at third singles.
At fifth singles, Hishinuma provided the clinching point for CWRU, sending the team to the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Aamish Pal.
Kosseifi, who had forced a third set over the nationally ranked Lindstrom, dropped the second singles contest after the match had been decided 3-6, 6-3, 4-6.
Fans can follow the action all weekend with live scoring at https://ioncourt.com/leagues/2025-ita-diii-mens-team-indoors and video at https://www.youtube.com/@GustavusAthletics/streams
Spartan Notes
- CWRU improved to 4-0 against the Garnet since 2013 with two wins in 2018 and one in 2013
- The Spartans have had recent success at the ITA National Indoor Championship, winning the tournament in 2022 and 2023 and placing third in 2024
- Three nationally ranked individuals competed in the match. Melnikov is the 17th-ranked singles player, Mahenthiran ranks 34th, and Lindstrom ranked 43 at the end of the fall season
