Cleveland, Ohio. - The Illinois Tech men's tennis team had a tall task on their plates Saturday morning in their second round match of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship: defeat the number three-ranked and reigning national champions, Case Western Reserve University, despite the Hawks being short their top two players. Ultimately, the task was too tall of an order, as the Spartans swept the Scarlet Hawks 5-0. The Scarlet Hawks finish the season 13-10 overall. The Spartan's improved their record to 26-5.

Despite the loss, the Scarlet Hawks finished another successful season, making their fourth NCAA postseason appearance in the last five years.

Doubles Play (CWRU 3 - Illinois Tech 0)
With the Scarlet Hawks number one doubles team unavailable, the two and three doubles teams had to move up positions, and a new number three doubles team of Danial Zindani and Avneet Singh had to be activated. Zindani was making his first doubles appearance of the season, and only his second match appearance for the year. Singh, who previously was on the number two doubles team with Jordan Lauer before being sidelined with an injury, was returning to the lineup for the first time since April 21st. It wasn't ideal, and Singh and Zindani gave it their best effort, but ultimately were blanked 8-0 by the Spartan's number three team of Ansh Shah and Daniel French in the first doubles match to complete. Moving up to the number one doubles position were Jordan Lauer and Eduardo Lopez. The recent pairing dropped their match to Diego Maza and Aduru Vishwa(the #3 ranked singles player in NCAA DIII), 8-0. Maza and Vishwa improved to 23-6 on the season in double play. In the final doubles match to complete, Nabil Fawaz and Pol Dueso Guell put up the best performance by the Hawks in the doubles portion of the competition. Fawaz and Dueso Guell held a 5-3 lead in their number two doubles match against Sahil Dayal and Anmay Devaraj, before the Spartan pairing stormed back to win five consecutive games for an 8-5 victory. 

Singles Play (CWRU 2 - Illinois Tech 0)
With a 3-0 lead in-hand for the Spartans after doubles play, the Scarlet Hawks' backs were against the wall entering singles play. Singh and Zindani were deployed into the number five and six singles positions respectively, with all other singles positions moving up two spots. Case Western was able to take advantage of the revised deployment. Zindani was able to win a game in his first set before eventually falling 1-6, 0-6 to the Spartan's Maza to secure Case Western's fourth match victory. Needing only one more match win to clinch the team victory, the Spartans' Casey Hishinuma blanked the Scarlet Haws' Singh 6-0, 6-0 in the number five match to clinch the overall match victory. In the unfinished matches, Fawaz was leading 3-2 in his second set after dropping the opening set 2-6 in the number one match. Dueso Guell was trailing 0-3 after dropping the first set 1-6 in the number two match. Lopez in the number three singles match lost a hard-fought opening set 4-6 and was trailing 1-4 in the second set to Michael Sutanto when play was halted. Lauer was trailing 0-4 in the second set of his number four match after dropping the first set 0-6.

Season Wrap-Up
The Scarlet Hawks conclude their season with a 13-10 record overall, including a perfect 7-0 record in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) regular season play, and winning their fourth NACC conference tournament title in the last five years, subsequently making their fourth NCAA postseason appearance in their last five years.

In singles play, Lopez, a first-year player, finished with the best record overall at 13-7, including 11-7 from his normal fifth singles spot. Seniors Alann Torres and Davis Housman tied for second in singles play at 13-8 overall. Torres and Housman switched singles positions midway through the conference season, with Torres taking the number one spot and Housman holding down the number two spot. The move helped both players, as Torres and Housman went 6-0 in their respective positions after the switch. Lauer, a senior, finished 10-7 in singles play, including 10-6 from his normal number six position. Fellow senior Fawaz was 11-9 overall in the number three position. And first-year Dueso Guell was 10-9 overall from the number four position.

In doubles play, Housman and Torres were 11-3 overall from the number one position. Fawaz and Dueso Guell finished 15-8 overall, including 14-6 from the number three position. They were also a perfect 7-0 in conference play. Lauer and Singh, the primary number two pairing, finished doubles play 6-3, including 6-1 in NACC play.

Final season statistics can be found HERE.

The Scarlet Hawks will be in rebuilding mode next season, with long-time players Torres, Housman, Fawaz and Lauer all graduating. However, the team received strong performances from three first-year players in Dueso Guell, Lopez and Singh, and rising junior Zindani provides the team depth and experience as they look to incorporate several new players on next year's squad.












(from left, Illinois Tech Men's Tennis departing seniors Davis Housman, Alann Torres, Nabil Fawaz and Jordan Lauer)













(from left, Illinois Tech Men's Tennis scheduled returners Pol Dueso Guell, Eduardo Lopez, Avneet Singh and Danial Zindani)