The Case Western Reserve University tennis teams kicked off their spring seasons this past weekend, with both teams picking up victories at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club.
The men’s tennis team began their defense of their national title by defeating Holy Cross College 5-2 and Allegheny College 9-0 on Feb. 9.
Against Holy Cross, fourth-year Vishwa Aduru and third-year Ansh Shah started off the match with a 6-1 win in third doubles over Luca McManus and Adam Singleton. Graduate students Diego Maza and Michael Sutanto took second doubles 6-4 after defeating Ciaran McCarthy and Ching Wah Wai. Second-year Anmay Devaraj and fourth-year Sahil Dayal swept doubles with a 7-6 (2) win over Perry Gregg and Laurenz Flender in first doubles.
Third-year Casey Hishinuma began singles play after notching a 6-1, 6-3 fifth singles win over McCarthy. While Shah followed this up with a fourth singles victory after defeating McManus 6-2, 6-0, Maza sealed the match win for the Spartans after defeating Polis Koursaros 6-1, 7-5 in sixth singles. Third-year Ajay Mahenthiran picked up the last Spartan win after defeating Singleton in three sets, taking the victory 5-7, 8-2, 10-7. The Saints earned two points after winning first singles 6-3, 6-7 (4) and second singles 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4). The final score stood at 5-2 in favor of the Spartans.
Later that day, the Spartans swept doubles again, this time against Allegheny. Second-year Rohan Bhat and first-year George Kosseifi took third doubles 8-0 over Charles Reid Stasolla and David Rodriguez. Dayal/Shah won first doubles 8-2 against William Jarvie and Benedek Kaibas. Devaraj/Maza completed the sweep after taking second doubles 8-5 over Anton Hedlund and Evan Nelson.
The Spartans also went perfect in singles play. First-year Derek Shiffer defeated Mitchell Curtis in a flawless 6-0, 6-0 win in sixth singles. Third-year Ben Martin clinched the match in fifth singles against Nathan Kisiel 6-0, 6-2. First-year Santiago Salazar Garza added to the Spartan victory with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in third singles over Kiabas. Bhat won fourth singles 6-0, 6-1 against Nelson. Kosseifi defeated Jarvie 6-3, 6-2 in second singles while Devaraj rounded out the sweep 7-6, 6-2 against Hedlund in first singles. The final score stood at a perfect 9-0 for the Spartans.
Meanwhile, the women’s team took on the College of Wooster, coming away with an 8-1 win to open their season. CWRU swept the doubles, with third-years Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey defeating Janaki Jagannathan and Otilia Oita 8-0 in first doubles. Third-year Anna Kan and second-year Asha Shukla defeated Abby Aitken and Lauren Richmond 8-0 in second doubles. Fourth-years Katherine Wang and Pallavi Goculdas finished off a third doubles with a win by default for the doubles sweep.
The Spartans went almost perfect in the singles as well, as Wang won sixth by default. Second-year Elsa Syed defeated Aitken in third singles 6-0, 6-0 while first-year Prachi Shah took fifth singles 6-0, 6-0. Second-year Ellior Rose won fourth singles 6-0, 6-1 and second-year Wang took first singles 6-3, 6-2. Wooster’s singular point came in second singles as Jagannathan won 2-6, 6-3, 10-8.
The men’s team is slated to play three matches on Feb. 17. The Spartans will face Oberlin College and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Oberlin. Later that day, the team will also play Kenyon College in Mayfield. The following week, the team will travel to Nicholasville, Kentucky for the ITA DIII National Indoor Championship.
The women’s team will take on Kenyon on Feb. 17 at Mayfield. On Feb. 24, the team will travel to Pittsburgh to play Carnegie Mellon University before coming back home on Feb. 25 to face Oberlin and Otterbein University.