Case Western Reserve University and Washington University travel to University of Chicago this weekend for key matchups in men’s and women’s tennis that will have a huge impact on seeding for the UAA Tennis Championships.
All six teams are ranked in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings. On the women’s side, Washington is ranked ninth, Chicago 15th, and CWRU 22nd. On the men’s side, the Maroons and Spartans are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. The Bears are ranked 13th, though since the rankings came out, have defeated three nationally ranked teams in Texas, including avenging an earlier-season loss to 12th-ranked Trinity University.
With Emory University sitting atop the ITA rankings in both the men’s and women’s polls, the number one seed isn’t up for grabs for the UAA Tennis Championships (men Apr. 21-23 and women Apr. 22-24), but the remainder of the top four spots are in play.
After the CWRU men face Elmhurst College early on Friday, the Spartans battle the Maroons at 4:45 p.m. (ET) at XS Tennis in Chicago. The indoor matchup is a rematch of this year’s semifinal in the ITA National Indoor Championship in which the Maroons prevailed 7-2.
The Bears and Spartans will meet on the men’s side at 7 p.m. on Saturday after Washington faces Elmhurst earlier in the day. The match, which will take place at Lincolnshire Club, is another rematch from the ITA National Indoor Championship. CWRU earned a 6-3 win in the opening round of the tournament.
In women’s play, Washington will play both UAA rivals on Saturday. At noon, the Bears face CWRU at XS Tennis. It marks their first matchup against one another this season after the Bears took two matches from the Spartans last season. At 6 p.m. at Evergreen Racquet and Fitness, Washington and Chicago meet for the first time since the Bears won 8-1 in last season’s UAA third-place match.
The Chicago and Washington men face off at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Originally, there was still hope the match would be played outdoors, but the weather forecast is making it seem less likely. The squads played two close matches last year with the Bears coming back from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 in the regular season and then edging the Maroons 6-3 in the third-place match at the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championship. Earlier this season, the Maroons placed second (to Emory University) at the ITA Indoor Championship, while the Bears finished seventh.
The Chicago women play CWRU at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The teams met three times last season with the Spartans winning the first match and the Maroons taking the final two.