The sixth-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team opened play at the 2026 University Athletic Association Championship with a 4-1 win over 20th-ranked Brandeis University in the quarterfinal round on Thursday morning.

The Spartans, the third-seeded team at the championship, improved to 25-7 with the win, their second straight victory. The Judges, seeded sixth, dropped to 11-7 following the setback.

Up Next

The Spartans will face fifth-ranked and second-seeded Carnegie Mellon in the semifinals on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at Sanlando Park. It will be the second time in the last week that the two teams have faced off, with CWRU winning 5-2 at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club last Saturday. 

Stats and Standouts

• The Spartans secured the doubles point by winning two of the three matches. Junior Santiago Salazar Garza and sophomore Rowan Matorin claimed a win at no. 2 doubles to put CWRU ahead 1-0, and after Brandeis won at no. 3 doubles, junior Trey Lambright and graduate student Bryce Ware, ranked fourth in Division III, picked up a 7-5 win at no. 1 doubles contest to clinch the point.

• After Brandeis picked up a win at no. 2 singles to even the team score, Matorin gave CWRU the lead back with a win at no. 5 singles, and senior Anmay Devaraj claimed a triumph at no. 3 singles to put the Spartans on the verge of clinching.

• Graduate student Ansh Shah provided the clincher in the fourth singles match, winning in straight sets to put the Spartans in the semifinals.

• When play was stopped due to decision, Ware was a game away from a three-set victory at sixth singles, while Salazar Garza trailed in the no. 1 singles match.

Individual Results

• Doubles

1. Lambright, Trey/Ware, Bryce (CWRU) def. Wang-Fan, Aidan/Lorenz, Oliver (BRANDEIS) 7-5 *
2. Matorin, Rowan/Salazar Garza, Santiago (CWRU) def. Shemesh, Daniel/Malik, Muaz (BRANDEIS) 6-1
3. Wang, Jiahe/Garbett, Pierce (BRANDEIS) def. Bhat, Rohan/Devaraj, Anmay (CWRU) 6-3

• Singles

1. Salazar Garza, Santiago (CWRU) vs. Shemesh, Daniel (BRANDEIS) 4-6, 3-4, unfinished
2. Garbett, Pierce (BRANDEIS) def. Plunkett, Matthew (CWRU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Devaraj, Anmay (CWRU) def. Malik, Muaz (BRANDEIS) 6-4, 6-0
4. Shah, Ansh (CWRU) def. Lorenz, Oliver (BRANDEIS) 6-4, 6-2
5. Matorin, Rowan (CWRU) def. Dong, Huasen (BRANDEIS) 6-0, 6-4
6. Ware, Bryce (CWRU) vs. Wang-Fan, Aidan (BRANDEIS) 3-6, 6-3, 5-0, unfinished

Order of Finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,5,3,4) | * indicates clinching win

Clinch Tracker

• Doubles

  • Bryce Ware/ Trey Lambright (5), Rohan Bhat/ Anmay Devaraj (5), Jon Totorica/ Leon Chen (4), Santiago Salazar Garza/ Derek Shiffer (1), Marko McRae/ Glen Ngo (1), Rohit Jain/ Rowan Matorin (1), Rohit Jain/ Luke Saylor (1), Shay Gupta/ Marko McRae (1), Konrad Kwiatkowski/ Shay Gupta (1), Trey Lambright/ Justin Prochnow (1), Anmay Devaraj/ Bryce Ware (1)

• Singles

  • Anmay Devaraj (5), JT Bilski (3), Rohan Bhat (2), Rowan Matorin (2), Santiago Salazar Garza (2), Benjamin Fernandez (2), Ethan Jacob (1), Rohit Jain (1), Xander Jhaveri (1), Konrad Kwiatkowski (1), Glen Ngo (1), Nikhil Ramani (1), Ansh Shah (1)

Spartan Notes

• This was the fifth consecutive season that the Spartans have won their quarterfinal match at the UAA Championship, and the 10th time in program history.

• Thursday's match was just the second meeting between the two teams since 2019, with the Spartans winning a 4-1 matchup in the UAA quarterfinals last year. CWRU improved to 6-2 against Brandeis since the 2011 campaign.

• CWRU improved to 7-6 against nationally-ranked teams this season.

• CWRU players now stand at 250-99 (.716) in singles matches this year, including a 141-47 (.750) mark in singles play during dual matches. The Spartans are 106-57 (.650) in doubles matches with a 68-28 (.708) record during dual matches.