Case Western Reserve University senior Anmay Devaraj delivered a three-set victory in the no. 3 singles match to lift the fifth-ranked Spartans to a 4-3 win over fourth-ranked Denison University in the quarterfinals of the 2026 NCAA Division III Championship at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Tuesday.

With the win, the Spartans will be making their fifth appearance in the NCAA semifinals in the last six years. CWRU won its third-straight match to improve to 29-8 overall, while the Big Red saw its 22-match winning streak come to an end with the setback, dropping to 27-3 for the campaign.

Up Next

The Spartans will face second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (33-1) in the NCAA Semifinals on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. at the Champions Club in Chattanooga. It will be a rematch of last year's semifinals, which CWRU won 4-2. The two teams also played earlier this season in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor Nationals, with the Stags claiming a 5-2 win. Fans can follow the action with live video of all courts, an NCAA live broadcast with commentary, and live results.

Match Highlights

• In doubles action, junior Trey Lambright and graduate student Bryce Ware, ranked sixth nationally, were the first to finish, upsetting third-ranked Ethan Green and Kael Shah 6-2 at no. 1 doubles.

• Denison answered back, winning the doubles points with victories at no. 2 and no. 3 doubles to go ahead 1-0 in the team score.

• Needing four singles wins to advance in the tournament, CWRU junior Santiago Salaza Garza (no. 1 singles), Devaraj (no. 3 singles), graduate student Ansh Shah (no. 4 singles), and Rowan Matorin (no. 5 singles) each won the first set of their respective matches.

• Shah was the first to finish, besting 32nd-ranked Andreas Chapides in straight sets to even the team score at 1-1, but Ware fell at sixth singles as the Big Red took the lead back, 2-1.

• Matorin evened the team score with a straight-set victory over 31st-ranked Nick Meyers in the no. 5 match, but after battling back from a first-set loss to force a third set, senior Matthew Plunkett, ranked 33rd, fell in the no. 2 singles contest to fifth-ranked Shah, as Denison moved a win away from clinching.

• The Big Red's lead was short-lived, as 25th-ranked Salazar Garza defeated 13th-ranked Green 6-4, 7-6 (3), shifting the attention to the third singles contest, which would decide the match.

• After Devaraj rolled to a 6-0 win in the first set, Denison's Jake Patterson was able to stave off elimination with a 7-6 (2) win in the second set. Patterson would jump out to a 3-1 lead in the third and deciding set, but Devaraj responded with wins in three consecutive games to take a 4-3 lead. Patterson would win the next game to even the score, but Devaraj fended off a game point and won the deuce point to hold serve and go ahead 5-4. Patterson would win the deuce point in the next game, but Devaraj held serve again with a deuce-point victory to take a 6-5 lead, and would secure the match by breaking Patterson's serve in the next game.

Individual Results

Doubles

1. (#6) Trey Lambright/Bryce Ware (CWRU) def. (#3) Ethan Green/Kael Shah (Denison), 6-2

2. Jake Patterson/Wesley Huang (Denison) def. Leon Chen/Rowan Matorin (CWRU), 6-4 *

3. Andreas Chapides/Nick Meyers (Denison) def. Rohan Bhat/Anmay Devaraj (CWRU), 6-4

Singles

1. (#25) Santiago Salazar Garza (CWRU) def. (#13) Ethan Green (Denison), 6-4, 7-6 (3)

2. (#5) Kael Shah (Denison) def. (#33) Matthew Plunkett (CWRU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-0

3. Anmay Devaraj (CWRU) def. Jake Patterson (Denison), 6-0, 6-7 (2), 7-5 *

4. Ansh Shah (CWRU) def. (#32) Andreas Chapides (Denison), 6-1, 6-0

5. Rowan Matorin (CWRU) def. (#31) Nick Meyers (Denison), 6-4, 7-5

6. Anthony Payiavlas (Denison) def. Bryce Ware (CWRU), 6-2, 6-3

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,6,5,2,1,3) | * 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), Santiago Salazar Garza/ Rowan Matorin (1), Rowan Matorin/Leon Chen (1)

• Singles

  • Anmay Devaraj (7), JT Bilski (3), Rowan Matorin (3), Rohan Bhat (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), Bryce Ware (1)

Spartan Notes

• Tuesday's contest was the third meeting this season between the two teams, with the Spartans winning 4-3 at the ITA Indoor Nationals Third Place Match in February, and Denison claiming a 4-1 win in an April dual match.

• Devaraj leads all Spartans with seven clinching victories this season. It was the second time this year he has clinched against Denison, after proving the match winner over Patterson at the ITA Indoor Nationals in February. Devaraj also bested Patterson during last year's NCAA Championship match.

• The Spartans' 29 wins this season are tied with last year's team for the second most in program history.

• CWRU, making its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance all-time, improved to 26-7 in postseason play. The Spartans, who are 4-0 all-time in NCAA semifinal matches, will be looking to make their fifth NCAA Championship appearance in the last six years, after winning the title in 2023 and placing second in 2021, 2022, and 2025.

• CWRU improved to 5-2 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal matches with Tuesday's win.

• CWRU now stands at 265-105 (.716) in singles play and 112-65 (.633) in doubles matches this season.

• The Spartans improved to 9-7 against top-25 teams this season, including a 5-4 record against opponents ranked in the top-10 nationally at the time of the match.