Case Western Reserve University junior Matthew Plunkett pulled out a come-from-behind three-set win at fourth singles to clinch a berth into the NCAA Division III Championship match on Thursday and complete the fourth-ranked Spartans' 4-2 upset over top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday night at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California.

The Spartans, who improved to 29-5, will now turn their attention toward the National Championship match on Thursday, May 22, at 8:00 p.m. ET in Claremont against a familiar foe in second-ranked Denison University, which bested third-ranked Tufts 4-1 in its semifinal match on Tuesday. This will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams, with Denison having won the previous two.

The Spartans will be making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship Match, each of which has occurred in the last five years. CWRU won the National Championship in 2023 and was the runner-up in both 2021 and 2022.

Meanwhile, CWRU handed the Stags their first loss to a Division III opponent this season and put an end to their 31-match winning streak. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, hosting the NCAA Championship on its home court, ended its campaign with a 31-3 overall record.

The Stags won the first doubles match of the day to be decided with 15th-ranked Josh Kim and Advik Mareedu defeating first-years Leon Chen and Jon Totorica 6-0 in the second doubles contest. Junior Rohan Bhat and senior Ajay Mahenthiran answered with a 6-4 win over Warren Pham and Matthew Robinson in the third doubles match, shifting the focus to the first doubles court, where the point would be decided. The match would go to a tiebreaker, where 13th-ranked junior Anmay Devaraj and senior Casey Hishinuma were able to defeat the 14th-ranked pairing of Caleb Settles and Brandon Vu 7-6 (5), giving the Spartans the early 1-0 lead.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps evened the match with a win at no. 1 singles, as Mareedu, the top-ranked player in Division III, bested 11th-ranked Mahenthiran 6-2, 6-2, but Hishinuma gave the Spartans the lead back moments later with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Tarm Rojanasoonthon in the fifth singles contest. Sophomore George Kosseifi, ranked 40th in Division III, extended the Spartans' lead to 3-1, putting the team a victory away from clinching with a 6-3, 6-3 win at no. 2 singles against 14th-ranked Pham.

The Stags went on to get a win at sixth singles with Settles defeating sophomore Santiago Salazar Garza 6-2, 7-6 (4) to cut the Spartans' lead to 3-2, shifting the focus to the third and fourth singles matches, which each went to a third set. Facing Kim in the fourth singles match, Plunkett dropped the first set 5-7 before battling back for a 7-5 win in the second set. After winning the first game, Plunkett dropped each of the next four to fall behind 4-1. However, he went on to rally off wins in each of the last five games and won the third set 6-4 to write the Spartans' ticket to the National Championship.

It was the second straight match that Plunkett has provided the clincher for, after also doing so in the Spartans' 4-2 win in the quarterfinals over fifth-ranked Chicago on Monday.

When play was stopped, Devaraj, ranked 49th, trailed 42nd-ranked Robinson in the third set at no. 3 singles, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 5-2.

Fans can follow Thursday's NCAA Championship match with live statistics at http://webapps3.cmc.edu/livescore/ and live video at https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule. A full preview of the match will be posted to athletics.case.edu on Wednesday.

Spartan Notes

• CWRU, making its eighth NCAA Championship appearance, stands at 23-6 all-time in tournament play.

• The Spartans improved to 4-0 all-time in NCAA Division III Semifinal matches.

• CWRU stands at 17-3 against nationally-ranked teams this season, including a 5-3 mark against teams ranked in the top-10 nationally.

• Plunkett has now won 16 straight singles matches and stands at 24-5 overall this year.

• The Spartans now stand at 1-1 this season against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, avenging a loss from the semifinals of the ITA Indoor Championship in February. CWRU is 3-3 all-time against the Stags with wins in three of the last four meetings.