From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The sixth-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team got back to its winning ways on Friday afternoon, as the Spartans topped New York University 7-2 to advance to the fifth-place match of the University Athletic Association Championships at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
The Spartans will take on 23rd-ranked Brandeis University in the fifth-place match, after the sixth-seeded Judges topped the seventh-seeded University of Rochester 7-2 in the other consolation match on Friday. Saturday's match is scheduled for a 9:00 a.m. start.
The win raised the Spartans' record to 19-7 overall this season, while NYU dropped to 4-10.
For the 14th time in 26 matches this season, Case Western Reserve swept the three doubles matches, taking a 3-0 lead heading into singles play. At second doubles, juniors Phil Gruber and James Fojtasek were the first to finish, topping Umberto Setter and Shrikar Kundur 8-1. Seniors CJ Krimbill and Louis Stuerke followed with an 8-1 win at first doubles over Sammy Aronson and Sidd Thangirala shortly thereafter, giving the Spartans' duo their 10th-consecutive win. At third doubles, freshmen David Zakhodin and John Benedetto capped off the sweep with a 9-7 win over Matt DeMichiel and Benedict Teoh.
Krimbill went on to win his 11th-consecutive singles match as well, topping Thangirala 6-3, 6-1 in the first match to improve to 26-4 overall. At second singles, Fojtasek picked up a 6-3, 6-1 win over Teoh, clinching the match for the Spartans.
Stuerke added a 6-3, 6-1 win at fourth singles over Samuel Khoshbin, and junior Joshua Dughi earned a straight-set victory over Yanik Parsch, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6) at sixth singles. The Violets would get on the board at third singles, where Setter topped freshman Robert Stroup 7-5, 6-1, and at fifth singles, with DeMichiel besting junior Kevin Dong 6-3, 6-4.
The win was the second in as many meeting between the two teams this season for the Spartans, who defeated NYU 8-1 on April 2nd.
Next up for the Spartans will be Brandeis in the fifth-place match on Saturday. The Judges, ranked 23rd in Division III and ninth in the Northeast Region, improved to 9-8 on the season with their win over Rochester on Friday. The team's lineup features regionally-ranked singles players in Ryan Bunis (18th) and Brian Granoff (21st) and the 11th-ranked doubles team in the region in Michael Arguello and Jeff Cherkin.
Saturday's meeting will be a rematch of the fifth-place match at the UAA Championships last season, when the Spartans topped Brandeis 7-2. Krimbill, Stuerke and Dughi each registered singles wins during last year's match, and Krimbill and Stuerke added a win at first doubles.