From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team, ranked 20th in Division III, won two of its three matches in Pennsylvania over the weekend, claiming an 8-1 win over Haverford College on Friday, before splitting against a pair of ranked teams on Saturday with a 6-3 win over 21st-ranked Swarthmore College and a 6-3 loss to seventh-ranked Amherst College.
Following the 2-1 showing over the weekend, the Spartans improved to 9-8 for the season.
The Spartans began the weekend with a strong showing at Haverford. The Spartans took all three doubles matches from the Fords, with senior James Fojtasek and sophomore Anthony Kanam winning 8-6 over David Kong and Josh Moskovitz at no. 1 doubles, freshmen Jonathan Powell and Neil Mabee winning 8-1 over Dais Nakayama and Kevin Yan at no. 2 doubles, and sophomore Sam Concannon and freshman Matthew Chendefeating Raja Arul and Ishaan Prinz 8-5 at third doubles.
Fojtasek would go on to set the tone in singles play with a 6-4, 6-3 win in the first match over Moskovitz, and Kanam secured a three-set win at third singles over Prinz, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. The bottom of the CWRU lineup looked strong as well, with Concannon defeating Kong 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 at fifth singles, junior Rob Stroup claiming a 6-3, 6-3 win at fifth singles, and sophomore Siddharth Rajupet topping Krishnan Pranay 6-3, 6-3 at sixth singles. Haverford's lone point in the match came at second singles, where Yan topped Chen in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Haverford dropped to 6-3 with the loss.
The Spartans opened play on Saturday with their second 6-3 win of the season against Swarthmore. CWRU needed to overcome an early deficit, with a win from Concannon and Chen at third doubles, 8-4 over Jiung Jung and Blake Oetting, providing the squad with its lone doubles victory. At first doubles, Fojtasek and Kanam suffered an 8-3 setback to Mark Fallati and Josh Powell, while Mabee and Powell fell to Thibault Vernier and John Lathrop 9-8.
However, CWRU was strong in singles play against the Garnett, with wins in five of the six matches. Claiming straight-set victories for the Spartans were Chen at second singles, 6-2, 6-4 over Thibault Vernier and Concannon at fourth singles, 6-2, 6-0 over Powell at fourth singles. Fojtasek came from behind to top Fallati at no. 1 singles, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Rajupet defeated Jung 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-5 at fifth singles, and Stroup topped Lathrop 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 at sixth singles. Swarthmore claimed its only singles win in the third match, as Simon Vernier defeated Kanam 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Swarthmore fell to 5-8 on the campaign with the loss to CWRU.
Case Western Reserve got off to a quicker start against Amherst, threatening to upset the seventh-ranked team after winning at both second and third doubles. Powell and Mabee claimed the win at no. 2 doubles, defeating Zach Bessette and Kevin Ma 8-5, and Chen and Concannon claimed an 8-4 win over Jon Heidenberg and Cameron Raglin. Amherst picked up the win at first doubles, where Sean Wei and Jayson Fung defeated Fojtasek and Kanam 8-6, making it a 2-1 match heading into singles play.
Making his first start in the singles lineup, Powell earned a 6-3, 6-3 win at sixth singles over Jesse Levitin. However, the Mammoths earned wins at each of the other five singles spots to claim the 6-3 team win.