The weekend of Feb. 22 and 23 brought two opportunities for the Case Western Reserve University women’s tennis team to improve their 3-2 record. The first match was against the fierce competition of the No. 7-ranked Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) on Saturday, Feb. 22. The second, a match against the Otterbein University Cardinals, took place the following day. Although both matches were exciting, with strong performances from all members of the women’s tennis team, the Spartans went 1-1. 

The Spartans surely knew that CMU would be a tough match and that they would have to play their best to win. Third-year Madeleine Paolucci and first-year Savannah Bright topped CMU’s Danna Taylor and Courtney Ollis in an 8-4 win to give the Spartans their only doubles match win of the afternoon, allowing the Spartans to go into singles play down 2-1, with a chance for a comeback. The singles competition did not go as hoped for the Spartans, with CMU winning all six matches for an overall 8-1 win. However, Paolucci at first singles and third-year Mira Amin at fourth singles were both able to force their matches to three sets. 

With a new day and a new opponent, the Spartans were no doubt ready for a comeback on Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Cleveland Skating Club. They hit the ground running, with three wins from the doubles teams of third-year Nicole Cardwell and first-year Shreya Ramani, second-years Sneha Karnam and Nidhi Jha, and Amin and first-year Nina Hoog. Going into singles play leading 3-0, the Spartans were in a great position, needing only two wins to seal the match. However, they were not satisfied with merely scraping by for the win. They wanted every match, and that’s what they got. A clean sweep of the singles competition sealed a perfect 9-0 win. Not only did every singles player win, but they all also won in just two sets. This was a strong performance by the CWRU women’s tennis team, and surely a welcome change from the previous day’s match against CMU. The Spartans now sit at 4-3, ranked No. 29 overall.  

Next up for the Spartans is a three-match weekend at the Cleveland Skating Club, where they will face Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, Feb. 29, followed by two matches on Sunday, March 1 against the University of Rochester and Wittenberg University.