MAYFIELD, Ohio – The 21st-ranked Washington and Lee men's tennis team dropped a pair of Saturday matches, 7-0 to No. 4 Case Western Reserve and 4-0 to No. 17 Kenyon, to kick off the Ohio Invite.
HOW IT HAPPENED – CASE WESTERN RESERVE (L, 0-7):
The Spartans (17-4) won all three doubles matches ahead of sweeping singles. The hosts dropped just four games total in their three doubles wins.
In singles, senior
Evan Erb (1) was the lone Generals (10-5) player to play into a third set. With his match the last to finish and the team result already decided, he and Ajay Mahenthiran went to a third-set, 10-point tiebreak to decide a winner. Erb was facing match point after 15 points had been played, but he battled back to even the score at nine all. Both players continued their back-and-forth until Mahenthiran finally outlasted Erb, 15-13.
The remainder of the Generals' singles lineup featured seniors
Will Kistler (2) and
James Kurani (3), first-year
Sahil Arora (4) and sophomores
Heys Parker (5) and
Sanjheev Rao (6). Eight of those 10 sets were won by CWRU, 6-2, or a larger margin. Kurani and Rao both played one set each to 12 games but were on the wrong end of both.
HOW IT HAPPENED – KENYON (L, 0-4):
In a match played to decision, the Owls (11-2) won the first two doubles matches, 6-1 and 6-4, at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, to send the match to singles. At No. 3, Parker and Rao led the team of Rishil Kondapaneni and Eric Zhang by a 5-4 score.
The Owls proceeded to win three singles matches in straight sets to close things out. Zhang defeated Hirshberg (6-2, 6-3) at No. 4, Alejandro Gonzalez downed Kistler (6-2, 6-4) at No. 2, and Juozas Cioladis upended Parker (7-6 (2), 6-4) at No. 5. W&L was holding strong across the other three singles matches, with Rao one game away from defeating Rakkan Audeh at No. 6, as he led 6-4, 5-4 when the team result was decided.
Erb (1) and Kurani (3) were both in their third sets after they each won their first and dropped their second. Both players were keeping it close in the third, with Erb tied, 2-2, against Paulo Pocasangre and Kurani behind by just one game, 3-2, against Kondapaneni.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will play one final game at the Ohio Invite on Sunday at 8:00 a.m. against fifth-ranked Denison.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
