The sixth-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team battled third-ranked Denison University on Friday afternoon, hanging close through most of the match but ultimately suffering a 4-2 setback to the Big Red in Granville, Ohio.

CWRU saw its season-long 14-match winning streak come to a close with the loss, as the Spartans dropped to 21-5 following the setback. Denison won its eighth-consecutive match and improved to 16-2 overall following the win.

CWRU dropped both of the doubles matches that were completed on Friday. At second doubles, first-years Leon Chen and Jon Totorica, ranked 10th in the Central Region, dropped a 6-4 decision to ninth-ranked Colin Gramley and Jacob Patterson, while Andreas Chapides and Nicholas Meyers clinched the doubles point for the Big Red with a 6-4 win over senior Ajay Mahenthiran and junior Rogan Bhat at third doubles. The first doubles match between CWRU's regionally sixth-ranked Anmay Devaraj and Casey Hishinuma and Denison's top-ranked duo of Ethan Green and Kael Shah was abandoned with the score tied 5-5 with the doubles point already having been allotted.

Denison increased its lead to 2-0 after Green, ranked first in the region, claimed a 6-2, 6-2 win over Mahenthiran, ranked eighth, in the no. 1 singles match. Junior Matthew Plunkett got CWRU on the board with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Meyers in the fourth singles match, but a 7-5, 7-6 (4) setback at no. 2 singles from 16th-ranked sophomore George Kosseifi against 15th-ranked Patterson put the Big Red a win away from clinching. Denison secured the match with a 7-5, 7-6 victory in the third singles match from Shah, ranked third, over Devaraj, ranked 18th.

After the match had been decided, Hishinuma picked up a 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 win over Andreas Chapides at fifth singles, while sophomore Santiago Salazar Garza won the first set of his sixth singles match against Mason Conlin 7-6 before it was abandoned.

The Spartans are set to wrap up their 2025 regular season on Saturday against 20th-ranked Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. The match is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start.

Spartan Notes

• Friday's match was the second meeting of the season between the Spartans and the Big Red. Denison won the first match 4-2 at the ITA Indoor Championship in February. The loss to Denison in February was the Spartans' last loss before the setback on Friday.

• CWRU fell to 2-4 in matches where the team lost the doubles point.

• Hishinuma increased his singles winning streak to a team-high 15 matches with his win on Friday. Plunkett has now won 11 consecutive singles matches.

• CWRU stands at 223-76 (.746) in singles play and 96-44 (.686) in doubles action this year.