The Spartan men’s tennis team has finished its fall portion of the 2016-17 schedule after two weekend tournaments in Ohio. Case Western Reserve University’s group split in two so that it could play at these two tournaments. One group went to Toledo for the Rocket Invitational and the other stayed in Cleveland, playing in the CWRU Invitational.

At the CWRU Invitational, the Spartans played against Marietta College, Kenyon College and the University of Northwestern Ohio. Fourth-year student Adam Collins had the team’s best singles record of 2-1 for the day. Additionally second-year student Oludayo Areke, first-year student Zach Hennessey, first-year student Varun Jayaram and fourth-year student Gabriel Murcia all went 1-0 for the weekend in their own singles matches.

During the doubles part of the invitational, fourth-year student Phillip Gruber and Murcia led the Spartans with a 2-1 record, and five other duos won at least one doubles match for the team as well.

Out in Toledo, the Spartans sparred against mostly Division I opponents. First-year student Anthony Kanam went undefeated in singles matches with three victories. He earned All-Tournament honors at the event for the his winning ways, starting his college tennis career off on a good foot. First-year student Sam Concannon and first-year student Siddharth Rajupet both recorded two wins and one loss.

During doubles play, first-year Joshua Piatos and first-year Rajeev Laungani paired up to win two of their three matches.

The weekend does not come with a solid tally of wins and losses for the team, as the invitationals are more or less for individual play rather than teams. However second-year student Tyler Holsopple says he is “excited to get to work” for next semester when the team’s record is on the line and that he feels confident in this year’s squad.

With several first-year players shining—as they did this weekend in Toledo—and the team’s veterans improving, the team does look promising. Their next match is Feb. 10, 2017 as they look to start the season off right against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. The team brings things home later that month for the ITA Indoor Nationals tournament, and the season only gets more interesting from there.