This past weekend, the Case Western Reserve University women’s tennis team traveled to Granville, Ohio, to compete in the Big Red Invitational hosted by Denison University. During the two days of competition, the Spartans faced opponents from Ohio Northern University, Otterbein University, Centre College and host Dension.

The squad performed well against the four schools going 23-1 (.958) in singles play and 9-3 (.750) in doubles play. A total of seven Spartans went undefeated in both singles and doubles matches: fourth-year Lily McCloskey, third-years Elsa Syed and Katalina Wang, second-year Kareena Sivanesan and first-years Yasemin Bilgin, Maya Brink and Sara Fernandez.

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Spartans played singles matches against Denison, Otterbein and Centre, with CWRU sweeping their matches against both the Cardinals and the Colonels. CWRU also played five doubles matches against Ohio Northern. The pairs of McCloskey and Wang as well as second-year Katie Wong and fourth-year Anna Kan both defeated their opponents with a 6-0 win. Graduate student Laurel Utterback paired with third-year Asha Shukla to record a 6-1 victory over ONU. Together, Sivanesan and Bilgin defeated Ohio Northern’s Taylor Allen and Molly McLane 7-5.

The following day, CWRU played 10 singles matches against the Polar Bears and once again dominated on the court, winning 10 of the 10 matches. The Spartans also played in doubles matches against Otterbein and Denison. Bilgin and third-year Ellior Rose defeated Otterbein’s Olivia Eckels and Daniela De Mata 6-3, while second-year Prachi Shah and Fernandez defeated Breanna Ball and Taryn Simmers 6-1. In the matches against Denison, the Spartan partnership McCloskey and Wang defeated Peyton Oda and Maia Nowicki 6-2, and CWRU players Brink and Syed defeated Elizabeth Hoo and Ariana Rodriguez 6-3.

Fernandez led the team in singles wins with a total of three matches, with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Otterbein, a 6-0 win over Centre and a 6-4, 7-5 win over Ohio Northern. Kan, Rose and Shah also went undefeated going 2-0, 2-0 and 1-0 in singles matches, respectively.

With the Spartans win from the Big Red Invitational, McCloskey gained sole possession of second place in the CWRU career doubles win list as she improved 67-18. Bilgin and Fernandez both earned their first collegiate singles and doubles win.

The squad will be heading to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the ITA Regional Championship this coming weekend.