Men’s tennis dominates opposition

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Courtesy Case Sports Information

After losing against two Division I teams last week the Spartans rebounded under the lead of fourth year captain C.J. Krimbill.

Right back to winning for the Case Western Reserve University Spartans’ men’s tennis team this weekend after pummeling the New York University team eight to one here in the buckeye state in Pepper Pike, Ohio. The Spartans dominated early during the double matches and hardly missed a step in single matches. After a few weeks of shaky competition and losses, CWRU looked to be back in the incredible shape we saw early on in the season.

Early on, fourth-year students CJ Krimbill and Louis Stuerke took a commanding eight to nothing victory against NYU’s Sammy Aronson and Benedict Teoh, making just their own record as a duo move up to 17 and five on the season. Third-year students James Fojtasek and Phil Gruber won yet another doubles match after being victorious over Sidd Thangirala and Shrikar Kundur with a score of eight to two. Finally, first-year students John Benedetto and David Zakhodin took the final doubles match eight to three against Matt DeMichiel and Yanik Parsch.

The winning did everything but stop there. Krimbill came out and defeated Thangirala for the first singles match soundly, taking the first game six to two and the next six to one. Fojtasek had the same scores in his two games as he defeated Teoh.

It was not all good news for the Spartans, though. The Spartans, up five to nothing in match up points, were excited to see first-year student Robert Stroup take his first game against DeMichiel six to nothing. After such a dominant starting game, it came to a surprise to all watching as DeMichiel turned it around and won the next two games to take the match point for NYU.

Although CWRU had a commanding five to one lead over NYU, the match between Stuerke and NYU’s Jiri Honajzer was fierce, to say the least. Stuerke took the first game six to two and lost the next four to six. The final game between the two was hard fought, going past the typical threshold of points as the rivals competed neck and neck. Ultimately, Stuerke came out on top 10 to eight to get the Spartans back on track. The remaining two singles matches were won in two games each to give CWRU its final eight to one score, improving the team’s record to 12-5 and 9-2 against NCAA Division III opponents.

This coming weekend has a total of four match-ups, first at Elmhurst College on Friday, April 8, and wrapping up Saturday, April 9, in the evening against Washington University in St. Louis. The strenuous amount of competition is bound to tire the athletes, but hopes are high after an incredible weekend.