From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University junior Vishwa Aduru turned in a performance that will go down as one of the most memorable in the program's history, as the junior came from behind to win a three-set marathon match at second singles and propel the top-ranked Spartans into their third-straight NCAA Championship Match with a 5-4 win over fourth-ranked Middlebury College at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida on Monday afternoon.
The Spartans, who improved to 32-4 overall and 27-0 against Division III opposition, will now hope that the third time is the charm after finishing as the NCAA Division III runner-up each of the last two years. CWRU is one of just eight programs in the history of Division III men's tennis to make three straight appearances in the title match.
CWRU's opponent in the NCAA Championship contest will be second-ranked Tufts, which topped sixth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5-4 on Monday to earn its spot in the championship match. The Jumbos stand at 24-1 on the campaign.
With the match tied at 4-4, Aduru (ranked ninth in the Central Region) was forced to come behind multiple times against Aidan Harris (ranked 12th in the Northeast Region) in the second singles match. After dropping the first set 4-6 and trailing 4-1 in the second, he rallied from behind to win the second set 7-5. He found himself trailing again in the third set, 5-3, but rallied again for three straight set wins to take a 6-5 lead in the match. Harris evened the score at 6-6, sending the match into a tiebreaker to decide the advancing team.
After four hours on the court in the sweltering heat, Aduru fell behind 2-0 in the tiebreak set but reeled off five straight points to go ahead 5-2 over Harris. Harris pulled back within two, trailing 5-3 and 6-4, but Aduru was able to lock down the final point and send the Spartans into the NCAA Championship match.
CWRU found itself in an early hole for a rare time this season. Aduru and senior James Hopper picked up an early win in doubles, winning 8-2 over Noah Laber and Harris at no. 1 doubles, as Hopper moved him into a tie with former Spartan CJ Krimbill for career doubles wins with 123. However, CWRU went on to drop the other two doubles contests. At third doubles, sophomore Ansh Shah and senior Michael Sutanto fell to Joe Mairs and Julian Wu 8-4, and at second doubles, seniors Diego Maza and Chris Provenzano dropped a tiebreaker to Neel Epstein and Robby Ward 8-7 (4), marking the Spartan duo's first loss of the spring.
The Spartans' deficit grew by another match after a 6-0, 6-1 win by Epstein over Sutanto at third singles, but Hopper got CWRU back within a match after a dominating 6-2, 6-1 win against Laber (ranked second in the Northeast) at no. 1 singles. The Spartans continued to rally, tying the team score with a 6-3, 6-4 win from sophomore Casey Hishinuma at no. 6 singles over Zihao Yuan and taking the lead with a 6-1, 7-6 (6) win from Shah at no. 4 singles against Wu. However, a three-set setback at fifth singles from sophomore Ajay Mahenthiran against Ward, 6-3, 6-4, evened the score at 4-4 and turned all attention toward the thriller at second singles, where Aduru would provide the difference maker.
With the loss, Middlebury ended its 2023 campaign with an 18-4 overall record.
The Spartans will now turn their attention to the National Championship on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in Orlando, as the team will be in search of the first NCAA Division III Team Championship in the history of Case Western Reserve University athletics.