Men’s and women’s tennis sweep weekend matches, tout eight-game win streaks

Puneet Bansal Sports Editor

As the regular season winds down and the conference championships loom on the horizon, the Case Western Reserve University men’s and women’s tennis teams are rounding into their final form after sweeping their opponents this past weekend. The men’s team defeated North Carolina Wesleyan College (7-2) and Kenyon College (8-1), improving to a 17-2 record. Meanwhile, the women’s team sports a 15-1 record after taking victories over Christopher Newport University (9-0), Oberlin College (7-2) and Denison University (8-1).

Men’s Tennis

Against the No. 13-ranked NC Wesleyan, the No. 1 CWRU men’s team fell behind early as the duo of second-years Vishwa Aduru/Sahil Dayal lost an 8-5 decision in second doubles. Third-year James Hopper/graduate student Jonathan Powell righted the course immediately with an 8-5 in first doubles. Fourth-year Chaitanya Aduru/third-year Michael Sutanto gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead in the match after taking an 8-6 victory in third doubles.

In the singles, first-year Ansh Shah opened with a 6-2, 6-4 win at third singles, while fellow first-year Ajay Mahenthiran won 6-4, 6-3 in sixth singles. Powell clinched the match win for CWRU after coming back to win fifth singles 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Though Hopper lost first singles 6-4, 6-4, the Aduru brothers came away with victories to seal the game 7-2.

Chaitanya Aduru took fourth singles with a 6-1, 4-6, 3-1 sequence while Vishwa Aduru won in a third-set tiebreaker 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (4).

The Spartans swept the doubles against No. 24 Kenyon, with Powell/ Dayal securing an 8-1 win in second doubles, Hopper/Sutanto winning 8-3 in first doubles and Chaitanya Aduru/Shah taking an 8-4 victory in third doubles. For the singles, Powell won third singles 6-4, 6-4 while Chaitanya Aduru battled in a tough second singles to earn a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win. Sutanto and Mahenthiran each played three-set matches to earn their victories at first and fourth singles, respectively. First-year Casey Hishinuma took a 6-1, 6-0 win in the fifth singles. Second-year Daniel French recorded the only loss for the day in the sixth singles match, falling 6-2, 6-4.

Chaitanya Aduru was named the UAA Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week for his 4-0 performance over the weekend.

Women’s Tennis

The No. 12 CWRU women’s team kicked off their weekend triple with a 9-0 sweep against No. 28 CNU. First-years Hannah Kassaie/Lily McCloskey won 8-4 in first doubles, first-year Radha Patel/second-year Katherine Wang notched an 8-4 win in third doubles and thirdyear Nina Hoog/second-year Pallavi Goculdas bested their opponents 8-5 in second doubles.

First-year Anna Kan, Kassaie and McCloskey came away with resounding victories in their singles matches, adding firmly to the team’s success in the doubles. Wang, meanwhile, came back from a first-set loss to win the match on a thirdset tiebreaker 2-6, 6-2, 10-7. First-year Madeleine Eiss also claimed a comeback win—3-6, 6-1, 10-6—in fourth singles.

The Spartans defeated Oberlin 7-2 that Saturday afternoon. Kassaie/McCloskey recorded the only doubles win with an 8-1 victory in first doubles. After losing the second and third doubles, the Spartans swept the singles to earn