CHICAGO – In a gripping finish that included a three-set battle at the top of the lineup, the University of Chicago men's tennis team lost 5-4 to Case Western Reserve University on Friday.

The No. 5-ranked Maroons dropped to 12-3 while the No. 6-ranked Spartans improved to 14-5.

Playing indoors at XS Tennis, Case came out of doubles with a 2-1 advantage. UChicago's first team point came from the No. 2 doubles tandem of freshman Charlie Pei and sophomore Peter Leung, who won their bout 8-6.

Singles split right down the middle during the early evening session. Each side took three matches, with the Maroons capturing the No. 3, 4 and 5 positions in the lineup with a trio of sophomores. David Liu continued his season-long hot streak by winning at third singles 6-2, 6-4. Liu improved his season record to 21-1 in singles play. Leung pulled away for a victory at No. 4 by scores of 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, and Luke Tsai raced through No. 5 by winning 6-0, 6-1. Tsai moved his singles mark to 16-2 on the season.

It all came down to the final contest at No. 1 singles. UChicago sophomore Nicolas Chua and CWRU senior CJ Krimbill split the opening sets, with Krimbill going ahead 7-6 and Chua battling back to tie 7-6 as well in the second set. Krimbill eventually ended with a win on a service break, 7-5 in the third set.

"Obviously that's a tough one to lose, but looking back on it, it was just a great college tennis match," said Head Coach Jay Tee. "Two really good teams competing at a very high level for four fours and we came up just short. Had we won 5-4 or lost 4-5, it doesn't change the way I feel about our players. They worked hard, competed and fought until the end. They did everything we asked and now it's up to me to make sure I put them in a better position to be successful the next time we hit the courts."

Case 5, UChicago 4
Singles
1. CJ Krimbill (CWR) def. Nicolas Chua (UC) 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5
2. James Fojtasek (CWR) def. Charlie Pei (UC) 6-2, 7-5
3. David Liu (UC) def. Robert Stroup (CWR) 6-2, 6-4
4. Peter Leung (UC) def. Louis Stuerke (CWR) 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4
5. Luke Tsai (UC) def. Kevin Dong (CWR) 6-0, 6-1
6. Joshua Dughi (CWR) def. Max Liu (UC) 7-5, 6-3
Doubles
1. CJ Krimbill/Louis Stuerke (CWR) def. Nicolas Chua/David Liu (UC) 8-5
2. Charlie Pei/Peter Leung (UC) def. James Fojtasek/Phil Gruber (CWR) 8-6
3. David Zakhodin/John Benedetto (CWR) def. Luke Tsai/Bobby Bethke (UC) 8-3

NEXT MATCH:

• Sunday, April 10 – Washington University-St. Louis at UChicago, 1 PM