No. 11 Tartans Place Fourth at ITA National Team Indoor Championship

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team placed fourth at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Sunday, February 21, after falling to University Athletic Association (UAA) rival Case Western Reserve University, 5-4. The Tartans are now 5-4 on the season while the Spartans move to 3-1.

The Tartans, ranked 11th in the nation, held a 2-1 lead after doubles. Wins for the Tartans came at second and third doubles. Seniors Abhishek Alla (Hyderabad, India/IMG Pendleton School) and Yuvraj Kumar (New Delhi, India/Millfield School) battled to a 9-7 win at third doubles while sophomore Jeffrey Chen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and junior Kenny Zheng (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) won 8-3 at second doubles.

Fourteenth-ranked Case Western Reserve took at 3-2 lead with wins at fourth and first singles before winning at fifth singles to play for match point. Freshman Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill./Boca Prep International School) kept things alive for the Tartans with a three-set win at second singles. He won the first set 6-2, fell in the second 6-3 and won the third 6-2 to bring the match score to 4-3 while Zheng was in a third set at third singles.

Robert Stroup was able to wear Zheng down to pull out the third set, 6-3, to earn the match point for the Spartans.

Freshman Chaz Downing (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar ) won the final point of the match at sixth singles for the Tartans. He topped Joshua Dughi, 6-4, 6-1.

This is the fourth appearance for the Tartans in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship and marks their second fourth-place finish.

The Tartans next competition will take place during spring break week when they travel to Claremont, California. Carnegie Mellon will start the week against Whittier College on Sunday, March 6.