The fifth-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team saw its run in the NCAA Division III Team Championship come to a close in the semifinals with a 4-2 loss to second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Wednesday afternoon.

The loss ends an incredibly successful season for the Spartans, who made their fifth NCAA semifinal appearance in the last six years and finished the campaign with a 29-9 overall record, tied for second-most wins in program history. The team's achievements come despite graduating a pair of players from last year's national runner-up and losing its top-returning player, George Kosseifi, to injury for the entire spring campaign.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps improved to 34-1 with the win, the team's 19th consecutive victory, and will face either top-ranked UChicago or third-ranked Tufts in the National Championship on Friday.

Match Highlights

• CWRU sophomores Leon Chen and Rowan Matorin picked up a 6-1 win over Josh Kim and Sibi Raja in the no. 2 doubles match, and sixth-ranked junior Trey Lambright and graduate student Bryce Ware defeated the top-ranked Division III pairing in Advik Mareedu and Caleb Settles 6-3 in the no. 1 doubles contest to clinch the doubles point for the Spartans.

• The Stags went on to win the first two singles matches, picking up victories in the first- and sixth-singles contests to take a 2-1 advantage.

• With the Spartans down a set in three of the remaining singles matches and the fourth in a third set, play was stopped due to weather conditions, with the delay lasting nearly three hours.

• Shortly after play resumed, Matorin was able to close out a three-set win in the no. 5 singles match to even the team score at 2-2.

• Minutes later, 19th-ranked Warren Pham bested 33rd-ranked senior Matthew Plunkett at no. 2 singles, and senior Anmay Devaraj fell to 48th-ranked Henry Wilson in the third singles match, as the Stags were able to clinch the victory.

• When play was stopped, graduate student Ansh Shah held a one-game lead in the third set of the fourth singles contest.

Individual Results

Doubles

1. #6 Trey Lambright/Bryce Ware (CWRU) def. #1 Advik Mareedu/Caleb Settles (CMS), 6-3 *

2. Leon Chen/Rowan Matorin (CWRU) def. Josh Kim/Sibi Raja (CMS), 6-1

3. Rohan Bhat/Anmay Devaraj (CWRU) vs. Henry Wilson/Ani Reddy (CMS), 2-5 (unfinished)

Singles

1. #1 Advik Mareedu (CMS) def. #25 Santiago Salazar Garza (CWRU), 6-4, 6-0

2. #19 Warren Pham (CMS) def. #33 Matthew Plunkett (CWRU), 7-5, 7-5

3. #48 Henry Wilson (CMS) def. Anmay Devaraj (CWRU), 6-4, 6-3 *

4. Ansh Shah (CWRU) vs. Sibi Raja (CMS), 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (unfinished)

5. Rowan Matorin (CWRU) def. Josh Kim (CMS), 6-1, 5-7, 6-2

6. Amrith Kodumuri (CMS) def. Bryce Ware (CWRU), 7-6 (4), 6-2 

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,6,5,2,3) | * indicates clinching win

Clinch Tracker

• Doubles

  • Bryce Ware/ Trey Lambright (6), 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

• Wednesday's loss marked the Spartans' first-ever setback in the semifinal round in five appearances. CWRU now stands at 26-8 all-time in postseason play. This was the team's fourth top-four NCAA finish in program history.

• This is the second time this season the Spartans have lost to CMS, after suffering a 5-2 setback in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor Nationals. CWRU bested the Stags 4-2 in last year's NCAA semifinal and has won three of the last six against the program.

• CWRU now stands at 266-109 (.709) in singles play and 114-65 (.637) in doubles matches this season.

• The Spartans ended the year with a 9-8 record against top-25 teams this season, including a 5-5 record against opponents ranked in the top-10 nationally at the time of the match.

• Ware and Lambright clinched the doubles point for the Spartans for a team-high sixth time this year.

• Wednesday marked the final match of the careers of four Spartan seniors - Plunkett, Devaraj, Shah, and Rohan Bhat.

Up Next

The Spartans will now turn their attention to the NCAA Division III Individual Championships, which are set to be held at the Champions Club in Chattanooga from May 23-26. Junior Santiago Salazar Garza is set to compete in the singles draw, while Lambright and Ware will be in action in the doubles draw. The full brackets and match times will be released later this week.

The championship experience is only possible because of Spartan fans and supporters like you! Show your Spartan spirit by making a gift in support of the Men's Tennis team as they compete at the highest levels at case.edu/give/menstennis26.