The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team, ranked 20th in Division III, won two of its three matches in Pennsylvania over the weekend, claiming an 8-1 win over Haverford College on Friday, before splitting against a pair of ranked teams on Saturday with a 6-3 win over 21st-ranked Swarthmore College and a 6-3 loss to seventh-ranked Amherst College.
Following the 2-1 showing over the weekend, the Spartans improved to 9-8 for the season.
The Spartans began the weekend with a strong showing at Haverford. The Spartans took all three doubles matches from the Fords, with senior James Fojtasek and sophomore Anthony Kanam winning 8-6 over David Kong and Josh Moskovitz at no. 1 doubles, freshmen Jonathan Powell and Neil Mabee winning 8-1 over Dais Nakayama and Kevin Yan at no. 2 doubles, and sophomore Sam Concannon and freshman Matthew Chen defeating Raja Arul and Ishaan Prinz 8-5 at third doubles.
Fojtasek would go on to set the tone in singles play with a 6-4, 6-3 win in the first match over Moskovitz, and Kanam secured a three-set win at third singles over Prinz, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. The bottom of the CWRU lineup looked strong as well, with Concannon defeating Kong 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 at fifth singles, junior Rob Stroup claiming a 6-3, 6-3 win at fifth singles, and sophomore Siddharth Rajupet topping Krishnan Pranay 6-3, 6-3 at sixth singles. Haverford's lone point in the match came at second singles, where Yan topped Chen in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Haverford dropped to 6-3 with the loss.
The Spartans opened play on Saturday with their second 6-3 win of the season against Swarthmore. CWRU needed to overcome an early deficit, with a win from Concannon and Chen at third doubles, 8-4 over Jiung Jung and Blake Oetting, providing the squad with its lone doubles victory. At first doubles, Fojtasek and Kanam suffered an 8-3 setback to Mark Fallati and Josh Powell, while Mabee and Powell fell to Thibault Vernier and John Lathrop 9-8.
However, CWRU was strong in singles play against the Garnett, with wins in five of the six matches. Claiming straight-set victories for the Spartans were Chen at second singles, 6-2, 6-4 over Thibault Vernier and Concannon at fourth singles, 6-2, 6-0 over Powell at fourth singles. Fojtasek came from behind to top Fallati at no. 1 singles, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Rajupet defeated Jung 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-5 at fifth singles, and Stroup topped Lathrop 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 at sixth singles. Swarthmore claimed its only singles win in the third match, as Simon Vernier defeated Kanam 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Swarthmore fell to 5-8 on the campaign with the loss to CWRU.
Case Western Reserve got off to a quicker start against Amherst, threatening to upset the seventh-ranked team after winning at both second and third doubles. Powell and Mabee claimed the win at no. 2 doubles, defeating Zach Bessette and Kevin Ma 8-5, and Chen and Concannon claimed an 8-4 win over Jon Heidenberg and Cameron Raglin. Amherst picked up the win at first doubles, where Sean Wei and Jayson Fung defeated Fojtasek and Kanam 8-6, making it a 2-1 match heading into singles play.
Making his first start in the singles lineup, Powell earned a 6-3, 6-3 win at sixth singles over Jesse Levitin. However, the Mammoths earned wins at each of the other five singles spots to claim the 6-3 team win.
Amherst raised its record to 5-1 with Saturday's win.
The Spartans will be off next weekend, returning to action with three matches in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Saturday, April 14th and Sunday, April 15th.