Solid Doubles Play Propels Spartans to Split against Ranked DII Opponents

Solid Doubles Play Propels Spartans to Split against Ranked DII Opponents

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The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team, ranked fifth in Division III, split a pair of matches against a pair of nationally-ranked Division II opponents behind strong play in doubles matches. The Spartans suffered a 5-2 loss to 20th-ranked Wayne State University in the early match, before besting 17th-ranked Grand Valley State University 4-3 in the late contest in Detroit on Sunday.

CWRU now stands at 11-2 overall on the season, while Wayne State improved to 7-1 and Grand Valley State dropped to 5-2.

Stats and Standouts

  • Graduate student Bryce Ware and junior Trey Lambright, ranked 17th in Division III, bested Division II's 15th-ranked duo in Harry Forsyth and Luis Klaus of Wayne State, 7-6 (5) at no. 1 doubles.

  • Sophomore Rowan Matorin teamed with sophomore Rohit Jain for a 7-6 (4) victory over Sam Knowles and Benjamin Hill at no. 3 doubles, and later went on to secure the team's only singles win against the Warriors with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Warren Gunnar at no. 6 singles.

  • Sophomores Jon Totorica and Leon Chen clinched the doubles point against Grand Valley State with a 6-4 win at no. 1 doubles over Bora Bakici and Patricio Sepulveda, ranked ninth in Division II.

  • Earlier in the match, senior Justin Prochnow and junior Derek Shiffer claimed a 6-3 win over Stephen Claassen and Lawrence Ivanov at no. 2 doubles.

  • After singles wins from graduate student Ansh Shah at no. 2 singles and Chen at no. 4 singles gave CWRU a 3-1 lead, senior Rohan Bhat clinched the match for CWRU with a 7-5, 6-3 win against Sepulveda at no. 3 singles.

  • As a team, CWRU went 4-2 in doubles matches and 4-8 in singles contests.

#20 Wayne State def. #5 CWRU, 5-2

  • Doubles

  1. Bryce Ware/ Trey Lambright (CWRU) def. Harry Forsyth/ Luis Klaus (WSU), 7-6 (5)
  2. George Day/ Thomas Mathys (WSU) def. Rohan Bhat/ Santiago Salazar Garza (CWRU), 6-2
  3. Rohit Jain/ Rowan Matorin (CWRU) def. Sam Knowles/ Benjamin Hill (WSU), 7-6 (4) *

  • Singles

  1. George Day (WSU) def. Santiago Salazar Garza (CWRU), 6-1, 7-5
  2. Luis Klaus (WSU) def. Jon Totorica (CWRU), 7-5,6-3
  3. Thomas Mathys (WSU) def. Josh Davydov (CWRU), 6-3, 6-3 *
  4. Benjamin Hill (WSU) def. JT Bilski (CWRU), 7-5, 6-1
  5. Harry Forsyth (WSU) def. Konrad Kwiatkowski (CWRU), 6-1, 6-2
  6. Rowan Matorin (CWRU) def. Warren Gunnar (WSU), 6-4, 7-5

  • Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,1,6,2,3,4) | * indicates clinching win

#5 CWRU def. #17 Grand Valley State, 4-3

  • Doubles

  1. Leon Chen/ Jon Totorica (CWRU) def. Bora Bakici/ Patricio Sepulveda (GVSU), 6-4 *
  2. Justin Prochnow/ Derek Shiffer (CWRU) def. Stephen Claassen/ Lawrence Ivanov (GVSU), 6-3
  3. Axel Le Ho/ Jorge Ruiz (GVSU) def. Luke Saylor/ Rohit Jain (CWRU), 6-4

  • Singles

  1. Bora Bakici (GVSU) def. Matthew Plunkett (CWRU), 6-4, 6-4
  2. Ansh Shah (CWRU) def. Jorge Ruiz (GVSU), 6-4, 6-1
  3. Rohan Bhat (CWRU) def. Patricio Sepulveda (GVSU), 7-5, 6-3 *
  4. Leon Chen (CWRU) def. Axel Le Ho (GVSU), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
  5. Stephen Claassen (GVSU) def. Bryce Ware (CWRU), 6-3, 6-4  
  6. Lawrence Ivanov (GVSU) def. Trey Lambright (CWRU), 6-3, 6-4

  • Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,2,4,3,6,5) | * indicates clinching win

Clinch Count

The following are the Spartans' 2026 leaders in doubles-point and match-clinching wins:

  • Doubles: Totorica/ Chen (4), Bhat/ Devaraj (2), Ware/ Lambright (2), Salazar Garza/ Shiffer (1), McRae/ Ngo (1), Jain/ Matorin (1)

  • Singles: Bilski (3), Devaraj (3), Bhat (2), Salazar Garza (2), Jacob (1)

Spartan Notes

  • Including the fall, CWRU stands at 160-67 (.705) in singles play and 65-35 (.650) in doubles action as a team this season following Sunday's action.

  • CWRU now stands at 1-4 all-time against Wayne State following the loss. Sunday's match was the first-ever meeting between CWRU and Grand Valley State.