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Playing close to home as the No. 1 seed, the Case Western Reserve University men’s team completed a memorable weekend.

The Spartans captured the first ITA Division III National Team Indoor title in program history with a 5-1 victory over No. 6 University of Chicago on Sunday at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield, Ohio.

CWRU (7-1) won its 26th straight regular-season match against a Division III opponent with the milestone win over UChicago (7-1).

“This means much more to our family and community than just winning a match or a tournament,” CWRU head coach Todd Wojtkowski said. “Thirteen years ago we were not even ranked in the Central Region and to now see CWRU and Cleveland shine on such a national spotlight is something that all of our alumni and family have worked towards for many years.”

The Spartans swept the doubles matches to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Freshman Ansh Shah picked up the first singles win for CWRU with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Derek Hsieh at the No. 3 spot to extend the advantage to 4-0. Graduate senior Jonathan Powell clinched the title for CWRU with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Marek Michulka at No. 6 singles.

Christian Alshon recorded the lone win for UChicago at No. 2 singles, beating Vishwa Aduru 6-0, 6-1.

The Spartans advanced to the final with an 8-1 win over No. 4 Trinity in the semifinals and an 8-1 win over No. 8 Gustavus Adolphus in the quarterfinals.

UChicago beat No. 7 Washington University 8-1 in the semifinals and No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5-4 in the quarterfinals.

“I could not be more proud of Jon to come back for this grad year and to be in a position to give us the clinching point,” Wojtkowski said. “He deserves it.”

Singles:

1. #6 Hopper, James (CWR-M) vs. Asokumar, Arjun (UCM) 6-4, 1-0, unfinished

2. Alshon, Christian (UCM) def. #32 Aduru, Vishwa (CWR-M) 6-0, 6-1

3. #10 Shah, Ansh (CWR-M) def. #42 Hsieh, Derek (UCM) 6-1, 6-3

4. Sutanto, Michael (CWR-M) vs. Guzhva, Alex (UCM) 4-6, 5-2, unfinished

5. Aduru, Chaitanya (CWR-M) vs. Dhawan, Shramay (UCM) 6-1, 5-3, unfinished

6. Powell, Jonathan (CWR-M) def. Michulka, Marek (UCM) 6-2, 6-4

Order of finish: 3,6,2

Doubles: 1. #6 Hopper, James/Powell, Jonathan (CWR-M) def. #25 Hsieh, Derek/Alshon, Christian (UCM) 8-7 (6-4)

2. Aduru, Vishwa/Dayal, Sahil (CWR-M) def. Asokumar, Arjun/Leonov, Andrei (UCM) 8-4

3. Aduru, Chaitanya/Sutanto, Michael (CWR-M) def. Otero, Pat/Forgus, Bailey (UCM) 8-2

Order of finish: 3,2,1

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].