Eric Klawitter and Chris Krimbill won Case Western's first national title since 2010.
CLAREMONT, Calif. -- Case Western Reserve's Eric Klawitter and Christopher Krimbill joined elite company on Saturday by winning the 2014 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Doubles Championship.
Klawitter and Krimbill become just the 17th and 18th NCAA champions in the 45-year history of Spartans athletics. The last CWRU student-athlete to win a title was track and field star Obinna Nwanna, who won the decathlon in 2010.
Entering Saturday's competition, Klawitter and Krimbill had already advanced further than any individual singles or doubles qualifiers in program history.The duo started the day with a straight-set victory (6-2, 6-2) in the national semifinals against Jeremy Bush and Ross Putterman of University Athletic Association rival Washington (Mo.).
Then in the championship match, Klawitter and Krimbill triumphed in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) once again versus Timmy Berg and Pierre Planche of Bates College (Maine).
As a pair, Klawitter and Krimbill ended the season at 21-4 overall.
Klawitter finishes his career second all-time in program history with 137 combined victories, just two shy of 2013 graduate Kyle Gerber's record of 139.
The performance put an exclamation point on the best season in program history. On Monday, the Spartans (17-8) became the first team from CWRU to play in the quarterfinals.
