From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team, ranked 12th in Division III, made its long-awaited NCAA Division III Championship debut on Friday afternoon, claiming a 5-1 win over 24th-ranked Denison University at the Carlton Courts in Cleveland, Ohio.
After receiving a first-round bye, the Spartans secured the second-round win on Friday to earn a spot in Saturday's third-round match against fourth-ranked Claremont-Mudd Scripps, which defeated SUNY Oneonta 5-0 earlier in the day.
CWRU improved to 17-4 on the season following the win, and are just one victory away from matching the program's single-season record, set with an 18-6 campaign in 2012. Denison dropped to 15-8 following the loss.
The Spartans came out of doubles play with a 2-1 lead behind wins from the squads' first and third doubles pairings. At third doubles, Katherine Wang and Radha Patel got CWRU on the board with an 8-3 win over Hannah Bradvica and Kendall Schrader, and Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey extended the Spartans' lead to 2-0 with an 8-6 win at first doubles over Syndey Cianciola and Sarah Robertson. Denison pulled back within a point following an 8-6 win from Monique Brual and Caroline Lopez at second doubles over Nina Hoog and Pallavi Goculdas.
CWRU's Anna Kan quickly added a point at fifth singles, winning after her opponent retired due to injury. Patel was dominant at third singles, winning 6-0, 6-1 against Brual to put the Spartans ahead 4-1. Shortly thereafter, Madeleine Eiss clinched the win for CWRU with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Susan Biederstedt.
At the time the match ended, CWRU was up a set on two of the three remaining courts, with Kassaie leading Cianciola 6-1, 5-2 at first singles and Savannah Bright leading Bradvica 6-1, 4-3 at fourth singles. After dropping the first set at second singles 6-3 to Robinson, McCloskey was even 3-3 in the second set when play was stopped.