PHOTOS

CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The University of Chicago men's tennis team had their season come to an end in the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 4-2 loss to #4 Case Western Reserve on Monday night.

Andrei Leonov and Pat Otero started off the day on a positive note for the Maroons with a 6-3 win at #1 doubles. However, Case Western Reserve bounced back with a pair of wins at the other two doubles spots to take a 1-0 lead with the doubles point.

In singles play, the Spartans doubled their lead with a victory at #1 singles. However, UChicago came right back to level the score with a pair of wins at #2 and #4 singles. Alexander Ekstrand took home a 6-4, 6-3 win at the #2 singles position, and shortly after, Ajer Sher got in on the fun with a 6-4, 6-4 win after picking up a big break of serve at 4-4 in the second set.

Derek Hsieh dropped the first set 7-5 at #3 singles, and he quickly fell behind 3-0 in the second set. However, the graduate student bounced back to win five straight games before falling 7-5, 7-5 to put the Spartans on top 3-2.

With the Maroons needing to win the final two matches, Michael Choi and Matthew Liew each sent their matches into a deciding third set. After dropping the opening set 6-3, Choi burst out of the gates in the second set with a bagel set victory to send it to a third. Meanwhile, Liew outlasted his opponent to take the opening set 7-6(7-4), but he dropped the second set 6-4. In the end, the two UChicago underclassmen ran out of gas late as the Spartans took the #4 singles match 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 to clinch the 4-2 win.

With the loss, the Maroons cap off their team season with a 23-4 record and their fifth NCAA Quarterfinal appearance in the past six seasons. Four individuals will continue their seasons on Friday with Andrei Leonov and Pat Otero competing in the doubles tournament and Alexander Ekstrand and Emil Grantcharov competing in the singles tournament.