The 15th-ranked Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team dropped a thrilling 4-3 contest to 30th-ranked New York University on Saturday afternoon at the Eyre Courts in Newport News, Virginia.

The loss was the first of the season for the Spartans, who fell to 6-1. The Violets improved to 5-2 this season.

Both the second and third doubles matches ended around the same time with the teams splitting the two contests. At second doubles, senior Anna Kan and junior Elsa Syed defeated Jimena Menendez and Emma Kast 6-1. NYU prevailed at third doubles by a score of 6-1 as well.

The first doubles match, which would determine the first team point, headed to a tiebreaker with the score tied at six. The Spartan duo of senior Lily McCloskey and junior Katalina Wang won 7-3 over Isabella Hartman and Victoria Wang to give CWRU a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Syed increased the team's lead to two with a 6-4, 6-0 win at fifth singles over Norah Staunton. The Violets responded with a pair of wins at third and first singles, tying the match score at two with three courts still in play. All three courts would need three sets to decide their winners.

NYU struck first, with Hartman, ranked 36th nationally, defeating Wang 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at second singles. Junior Asha Shukla kept the Spartans alive with a victory at fourth singles, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 over Aditi Narayan.

After dropping a tiebreaker 7-5 in the first set at sixth singles, sophomore Katie Wong forced a third set with a 7-6 (7-4) win in the second set. However, both the individual and team match went to NYU when Siona Vallabhaneni won 6-4 in the decisive final frame.

The Spartans will wrap up their trip to Virginia on Sunday with a matchup against sixth-ranked Johns Hopkins. Action is slated to begin at 9 a.m.

Spartan Notes

• The doubles win for McCloskey was the 75th of her career, bringing her within one of the program record of 76 set by Nithya Kanagasegar in 2018. McCloskey has a career doubles record of 75-20
• CWRU moved to 5-2 against NYU since 2010, falling in the last two contests by scores of 4-3 and 5-3. Four of the seven meetings have occurred in the UAA Championship Tournament