It was a long time coming for the Case Western Men's Tennis team. The Spartans defeated Tufts 5-2 for the first NCAA Division III Championship in program history. It was also the first NCAA team title in the history of athletics at the university.
The Spartans made the final for the third straight year. This time, they finally came out on top.
A bout of food poisoning led to a loss in 2021.
"Ate at the wrong diner and I've just been kicking myself ever since," said head coach Todd Wojtkowski.
They fell short again in 2022 — but not in 2023. The third time was a charm.
"We had a lot of unfinished business, and that was kind of the trend for us," said senior Chris Provenzano.
"For them to get rewarded for that and climb back up that mountain again and win it — these have been the greatest last few days I could imagine," said Wojtkowski.
"Not that we didn't have a sense of urgency and motivation last year, but I think going into this year, it was at an all-time high," said senior James Hopper.
Along with the national team title, the Spartans also won their first University Athletic Association Championship and second-straight ITA Indoor National Championship.
"It's something I'll have to look back on in a few months and be like, 'Wow. We did all this.' I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," said Provenzano.
"We knew it was our time to shine. We had all the momentum coming in. We were really confident in ourselves," said junior Vishwa Aduru.
"No one else had to motivate us to stick it out throughout the whole year. We all had that drive," said Hopper.
Hopper received a storybook send-off in his final year at Case Western. He graduates as the most decorated player in program history.
"There's no one like him. I don't know that we'll ever have anyone like him," said Wojtkowski.
Aside from the team accolades, Hopper got one last win as a Spartan. He claimed the NCAA doubles title in back-to-back years. This time, Aduru was his partner in the feat.
"We knew coming in it would be a dog fight. Every team would wanna beat us," said Aduru.
"A lot of different emotions were going through my system — it being my last match in a Case shirt, being a senior, wanting to send it off the right way, especially playing with someone like Vish. We had an incredible year together," said Hopper.
That victory was extra padding on an incredible legacy left behind as Hopper moves on to play his final two years of eligibility at the University of Virginia.
"To finish it on a win was just something special. I couldn't have thought of a better way to go out," said Hopper.
Hopper and Vishwa finished the season with a 31-2 record. Their only two doubles losses were against Division I competition.
Carly Mascitti is a sports anchor at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @carlymascitti.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
