On a weekend dedicated to the team’s fourth-year players, the No. 19 Case Western Reserve University women’s tennis team was able to extend their winning streak to eight games.  Before the first match of the weekend against Oberlin College, the team recognized its two fourth-year members, Jennifer Lowe and Kennedy Mulholland, for their contributions to the team these past four years.

CWRU was able to defeat Oberlin 6-3 before obliterating the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo 9-0. The win over No. 37 Oberlin was the Spartans’ fifth this season over a nationally-ranked opponent, and the win over SUNY Geneseo improved the team’s record to 12-2 for the season.

Coach Kristen Gambrell was very pleased with how the entire weekend went.

“It was a really fun senior weekend and little emotional and sad,” said Gambrell. “But just a great weekend, there [were] alumni, family and friends. It was nice to have that moment for our seniors.”

The weekend started with a tough test against a talented Oberlin squad. Oberlin grabbed an early lead winning two out of the three doubles matches. In order to come back and win CWRU had to win four of the six singles matches. The Spartans won first, second, third, fourth and fifth singles before dropping sixth singles. The extra singles victory propelled the team to a 6-3 win.

The Spartans then turned their attention to SUNY Geneseo, where they overwhelmed the Knights. CWRU got out to a quick 3-0 lead in doubles and never let up as they swept all six singles matches as well.

Kristen Gambrell is incredibly impressed with the way her team has been playing, especially with the limited experience they have.

“This is one of the best seasons—maybe the best season—we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Gambrell. “This team has been really exciting with all the young players, and they are very talented, any given day we can beat anyone.”

The Spartans will face their biggest challenge of the season when the team travels to Madison, Wisconsin for the Midwest Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin. The invitational begins on Friday, April 7.  

The team will play at least three nationally ranked teams in two days but Gambrell believes her young, talented team is up for the test.

“My team will be physically and mentally rested and we should be ready to go,” said Gambrell.

Their first match will be against No. 8 University of Chicago, a University Athletic Association rival. Following that the team will play No. 30 Denison University. The next day, the team plays one more match against a school that will be determined by Friday’s results.