From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The 15th-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team bounced back from a loss on Saturday with a 6-3 win at 28th-ranked Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia on Sunday afternoon.
Case Western Reserve improved to 4-4 on the year with the win, while Christopher Newport fell to 3-3 following the loss.
The Spartans utilized strong play in singles to win five of the six matches, including a pair in three-sets, to overcome an early 2-1 deficit after doubles play. The Spartans lone doubles victory came in the second match, where sophomores Anthony Kanam and Sam Concannon teamed up for an 8-3 win over James Baron and Andy Mason. In the other two matches, senior James Fojtasek and freshman Matthew Chen fell to Justin Cerny and David Reed, 8-3 in no. 1 doubles, and Neil Mabee and Jonathan Powell suffered an 8-6 setback to Dominic Lacombe and Nicholas Ruzicka and no. 3 doubles.
The two teams split the first two singles matches, with sophomore Siddharth Rajupet winning in straight sets over Baron in the sixth singles match, 6-1, 6-2, and Fojtasek losing to Reed in the first singles match, 6-2, 6-2. Kanam would even the score with a straight-set win over Mason at third singles, 6-3, 6-2, and Concannon would give CWRU the lead with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Ruzicka at fifth singles.
Needing just one more match to clinch the team win, junior Rob Stroup would oblige with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Lacombe at fourth singles, and Chen helped cement the victory with a second singles win, topping Cerny in three closely-played sets, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.