From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The No. 23 Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team won five of six singles matches to defeat No. 29 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 6-3, on the first day of the Midwest Invitational.
Junior Surya Khadilkar (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Hawken School) teamed with sophomore Jennifer Lowe (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) for a win at No. 3 doubles and then recorded a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles to earn two points for the Spartans.
CWRU trailed 2-1 entering singles, but four other players joined Khadilkar in winning singles matches.
Freshman Nina Cepeda (Mason, Ohio/Mason) dropped a total of only three games to earn the win at No. 6 singles, junior Michelle Djohan (Westlake, Ohio/Westlake) dropped four games in her straight-set victory at No. 3 singles, and senior Marianne Bonanno (Clayton, Ohio/Northmont) won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
Freshman Nithya Kanagasegar (Crossville, Tenn./Cumberland County) came back to win her match at No. 1 singles, 4-6, 6-3, 12-10.
"We had a slow start in doubles," said head coach Kirsten Gambrell. "We will need to raise our level and play much better doubles tomorrow. We bounced back very well and were very focused in the singles today, which is what we needed."