Rochester showed why it is ranked among the Division III men's tennis teams this year when the Yellowjackets hosted Case Western Reserve University at the Goergen Athletic Center courts on Saturday morning.
 
CWRU came into the match ranked #14 in Division III with a 12-5 record. Rochester stood at 9-1 with the only loss suffered more than two weeks ago at Division II Biola, 4-2, during a spring break trip to the West Coast. The showing earned Rochester a ranking of #33 in the current tennis poll.
 
The Spartans won all three doubles and all six singles for a 9-0 team count, but Rochester put up sturdy competition throughout the match. The first doubles team of Masaru Fujimaki and Runjia Fang is ranked eighth regionally as a unit. They squared off against Jonathan Powell and Anthony Kanam, ranked #25 nationally and #4 in the Midwest. CWRU won, 8-5.
 

UR went up against another regionally-ranked opponent at second doubles with Zach Hennessey and Matthew Chen (#13) facing UR's Sahaj Somani and Pasquale Procaccino. The Spartans won, 8-6. CWRU opened doubles with an 8-2 win at #3, Aaron Umen and Chaitanya Aduru defeating UR's Tanmay Thakkar and Yifan Shen. The second doubles match followed and the first doubles battle completed the first portion of the program.
 
Case posted straight set victories at #4 and #3 singles to wrap up the team point. At #4, Sam Concannon defeated Thakkar, 6-0, 6-3. That was followed by Umen besting Shen, 6-2, 6-3 at #3.
 
Fujimaki, ranked #17 regionally as a singles player, faced Chen (#11 regionally) at first singles and took it to three sets. Chen won the opener, 6-2. Fujimaki fought back to win by an identical score (6-2) to force a third set. Chen took that, 10-6.

Fang lost in three sets at #2 to Kanam, ranked 16th regionally. Fang won the first, 6-4, but Kanam evened it in the second set, 6-1. He then sealed the win with a 10-8 victory in the third set.
 
CWRU completed the victory with straight set wins at #5 and #6 singles.  Aduru defeated Somani 6-1, and 6-0, at #5. Powell topped Mark Zolotukhin of UR, 6-2, 6-0, at #6.
 
With a 9-2 record, Rochester will host Stevens Institute of Technology at 10 am Sunday in the Goergen Athletic Center.