CLEVELAND -- Carnegie Mellon, ranked 11th nationally, came from behind to beat University Athletic Association (UAA) foe Case Western on the road 5-4 on Saturday in a non-UAA match. The Tartans are now 13-5 in dual play while the Spartans move to 11-4.
Carnegie Mellon had its work cut out for it, as Case took a 3-0 lead following doubles play. In singles play, the Tartans pulled in their first point from junior Christian Heaney-Secord at the No. 2 spot. Heaney-Secord dropped his first set 6-4 before winning 6-2, 6-3 to grab the team point. Case went on to take a 4-1 lead with a three-set win at No. 1 singles, but junior Will Duncan pulled out a three-set win of his own. He won 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 at No. 3 singles.
As matches five and six were in their first set, freshman Kiril Kirkov pushed the score to 4-3 after winning at No. 4 singles. Kirkov dropped his first set 7-6 before winning 7-6, 7-5 in sets two and three, respectively. After trailing 5-4 in the third set, Kirkov won the next three games to claim the team point for the Tartans.
Freshman Kunal Wadwani knotted the score at 4-4 with a straight set victory at No. 6 singles winning 6-3, 6-2. Following Wadwani's victory, the Tartans needed freshman Kenny Zheng to come up big in his match at No. 5 singles and he did just that. Zheng won the first set 6-3 before the second went to a tiebreaker where he won 7-6 (9) to pullout the victory for the visitors.
"This victory is one of the most gratifying wins of my career," head coach Andy Girard said. "We have been working hard and changing the way we do things to get back up where we belong and we are not done climbing."
