San Antonio, TX - The 14th-ranked Trinity University men's tennis team earned one of its biggest wins of the season on Wednesday afternoon, defeating 3rd-ranked Case Western Reserve University 4-3 in a dramatic battle at the Butch Newman Tennis Center. In a tightly contested match that stretched across four hours, the Tigers relied on resilience in singles and a clutch comeback from Aashish Dhanani to secure the upset victory.

Case Western opened the match by claiming the doubles point. The Spartans struck first at #1 doubles, where Lambright and Ware defeated Trinity's Kishan Kersten (Plano, Texas / West) and Jared Perry (Tucson, Ariz. / Catalina Foothills) 6-1. Trinity quickly answered at #2, as Ethan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) and Roshin Kamath (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) delivered a strong 6-2 win over Chen and Totorica to even the doubles competition. The deciding match came at #3, where Case Western's Bhat and Devaraj edged Aashish Dhanani (Austin, Texas / Westwood) and Conor Kaczmarczyk (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) 6-3 to give the visitors the early 1-0 lead.

Singles play quickly turned into a back-and-forth battle between the nationally ranked programs. The first match off the court came at #1 singles, where 16th-ranked Kersten fell to Case Western's Garza 7-5, 6-2 to extend the Spartans' lead to 2-0.

Trinity began its comeback shortly after. 30th-ranked Ryan Warren (Keller, Texas / Connection Academy) put the Tigers on the board at #4 singles with a composed 7-5, 6-4 victory over 36th-ranked Totorica. The momentum continued to build at #2 singles, where 20th-ranked Perry battled through a three-set contest to defeat Matthew Plunkett 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 and level the team score at 2-2.

Kamath then gave Trinity its first lead of the afternoon with a gritty comeback at #6 singles. After dropping the opening set, he rallied to defeat Davydov 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and put the Tigers ahead 3-2.
With the match hanging in the balance, attention turned to #3 singles. After splitting the opening two sets, Dhanani found himself trailing in the final set before mounting a remarkable surge. The senior rattled off five consecutive games down the stretch to capture the third set 7-5, clinching the team victory for Trinity and sending the entire Trinity team wild as they piled onto the court in celebration.

The final match to conclude came at #5 singles, where Case Western's Bhat edged Kaczmarczyk in a narrow three-set battle, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, bringing the final score to 4-3 in favor of the Tigers.
The win marks a statement result for Trinity, as the Tigers showed depth and composure against one of the nation's top teams.

Up Next
The 14th-ranked Tigers will make their second trip to California to face off against the number one team in the nation, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags, in Claremont on Friday, March 20th, at 10:00 a.m. (PT).