CMS Men's Tennis Drops Hard-Fought Match to Case Western at ITA Indoors

ST. PETER, Minn. - In a match that lasted almost four hours, the second-seeded Case Western Reserve men's tennis team was able to outlast Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6-3 in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor Nationals on Saturday morning at Gustavus Adolphus.

The loss was the first of the season for CMS, which falls to 5-1 on the year, after opening up at the ITA Indoors with a win over Pomona-Pitzer on Friday. 

The Stags led 2-1 after doubles, with Nathan Arimilli and Christopher Li providing the swing point at No. 3 with an 8-6 win. Arimilli and Li had led 4-1 but lost five of the next six games to find themselves down a break of serve at 6-5. The Stags third pair responded by breaking twice and holding once for a dramatic win to give CMS the advantage going into the doubles. Ian Freer and Matthew Robinson started the scoring with an efficient 8-4 win at No. 2, their second in as many days.

Case Western wasted little time in getting back into the match, with James Hopper and Ansh Shah winning at No. 1 and No. 4 singles to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead, before Warren Pham knotted it at No. 6 for the Stags with a 6-3, 6-4 victory, his second of the tournament. After Ajay Mahenthiran won at No. 5, the final two matches went deep into three sets before the Spartans secured the victory. 

Li won the first set at No. 2 and then had match point returning at 4-5 deuce in the second set. A neutral forehand return was met with a Vishwa Aduru inside-out winner, and the Spartan No. 2 went on to win the second 7-5.  Down 3-0 in the third, Li battled back to tie it at 3-all, but couldn't break down a relentless Aduru in the final three games, as Case Western earned their fifth and clinching point.

Robinson extended his match to three sets at No. 3 after dropping the first 6-2, and then battling back from 5-3 in the second and saving a match point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker to earn a split. He trailed 3-0 and then leveled the set at 3-all, then faced imminent defeat at 5-3 but rallied again to force another tiebreaker.  Despite the valiant effort, Robinson came up just short, and the Spartans won their fifth singles match of the day by the narrowest of margins.

CMS will be back in action in the third place match tomorrow at 9 AM CST / 7 AM PST in the third place match against top-seeded and defending NCAA champion Chicago, which dropped its semifinal to WashU on Saturday. CMS lost 5-4 to Chicago in the 2022 ITA D3 National Team Indoors Quarterfinal.

#5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (3) vs. #2 Case Western (6)
February 25, 2023 at St. Peter, MN - ITA D3 National Team Indoors Semifinal (Swanson Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. James Hopper/Vishwa Aduru (CWR) def. Christian Settles/Advik Mareedu (CMS) 8-5
2. Ian Freer/Matthew Robinson (CMS) def. Sahil Dayal/Chris Provenzano (CWR) 8-4
3. Nathan Arimilli/Christopher Li (CMS) def. Diego Maza/Michael Sutanto(CWR) 8-6

Singles
1. James Hopper (CWR) def. Advik Mareedu (CMS) 6-1, 6-0
2. Vishwa Aduru (CWR) def. Christopher Li (CMS) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
3. Michael Sutanto(CWR) def. Matthew Robinson (CMS) 6-2, 6-7(7), 7-6(3)
4. Ansh Shah (CWR) def. Michael Hao (CMS) 6-3, 6-3
5. Ajay Mahenthiran(CWR) def. Ian Freer (CMS) 6-4, 6-2
6. Warren Pham (CMS) def. Casey Hishinuma (CWR) 6-3, 6-4

Order of completion
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 4, 5, 1, 6, 2