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The University of Chicago men didn’t just make program history by capturing the team title at the NCAA Division III Championships. The Maroons made school history.

Top-ranked UChicago beat No. 2 Case Western Reserve 5-2 on Wednesday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida to become the first team in any sport at the university to capture a Division III national team title.

Christian Alshon clinched the title for UChicago with an ace to complete his comeback and beat James Hopper 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 1 singles spot.

"Today's championship is the culmination of many years of hard work by our current players and those that came before them," UChicago head coach Jay Tee said. "We dealt with some adversity early in the year as we were forming our culture and identity, but the men responded well to every challenge put in front of them.”

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women denied UChicago’s attempt to make it a clean sweep of the team titles. The No. 4 Athenas beat No. 1 UChicago 5-1 to capture their second title in the last three tournaments after winning their first-ever title in 2018.

First-year Ella Brissett clinched the title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nicole Geller at No. 4 singles.

The UChicago (22-1) men, who finally broke through their semifinal roadblock to make the final for the first time, were facing a very familiar opponent. The Maroons and Case Western (25-5) are University Athletic Association rivals, and Case Western’s only two losses to Division III opponents this season came to UChicago.

UChicago won the first point of the match, with Sachin Das and Alex Guzvha beating Chaitanya Aduru and Michael Sutanto 8-2 at three doubles. Case Western evened the score with a win at No. 2 doubles, as sophomores Vishwa Aduru and Sahil Dayal defeated Arjun Asokumar and Andrei Leonov 8-4. Second-ranked Derek Hsieh and Alshon gave UChicago the lead for good by beating James Hopper and Jonathan Powell 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.

UChicago quickly expanded the lead in singles to 4-1 after Guzvha beat Sutano 6-4, 6-1 on the fourth court and Shramay Dhawan defeated Chaitanya Aduru 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 singles.

Vishwa Aduru got Case Western’s only singles win with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles before Alshon set off the UChicago celebration by rallying from a set down to win on court one.

Both UChicago and Case Western registered record-breaking seasons. UChicago’s 22 victories broke the previous program record of 20 wins set in 2019. The Maroons ended on a 15-match winning streak. Case Western, which was making its second straight NCAA title match appearance, set a program single-season record for wins with 25 and won the ITA Indoor National Championship title in February.

In the women’s final, CMS (27-3) was making its third straight appearance and took a 2-1 lead after doubles with victories from the top line of Nikolina Batoshvili-Alisha Chulani (CMS) and third line of Sarah Bahsoun-Devon Wolfe.

The Athenas carried the momentum into singles, winning the first set on every court against UChicago (22-2). The bottom of the order came through for CMS as Bahsoun defeated Lauren Park 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6 and Batoshvili beat Miranda Yuan 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 to set up the title clincher by Brissett, a biochemistry major from Houston.

After a fourth-place finish at National Indoors following two losses, CMS steadily gained steam, losing only one more match to SCIAC rival Pomona-Pitzer. Once they arrived in Orlando, the Athenas beat previously undefeated Wesleyan (23-1) in the semifinals to avenge an NCAA final loss from 2019.

No players remain from the 2018 NCAA title team, but the fresh group of Athenas now have their own piece of the legacy secured.

Men’s Final

UChicago 5, Case Western Reserve 2

Singles

1. Alshon, Christian (UCM) def. #6 Hopper, James (CWR-M) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

2. #32 Aduru, Vishwa (CWR-M) def. Asokumar, Arjun (UCM) 6-4, 6-1

3. #42 Hsieh, Derek (UCM) vs. #10 Shah, Ansh (CWR-M) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-2, unfinished

4. Guzhva, Alex (UCM) def. Sutanto, Michael (CWR-M) 6-4, 6-1

5. Dhawan, Shramay (UCM) def. Aduru, Chaitanya (CWR-M) 6-4, 6-1

6. Leonov, Andrei (UCM) vs. Powell, Jonathan (CWR-M) 5-7, 6-4, 1-2, unfinished Doubles

1. #25 Alshon, Christian/Hsieh, Derek (UCM) def. #6 Hopper, James/Powell, Jonathan (CWR-M) 8-4

2. Aduru, Vishwa/Dayal, Sahil (CWR-M) def. Asokumar, Arjun/Leonov, Andrei (UCM) 8-3

3. Das, Sachin/Guzhva, Alex (UCM) def. Aduru, Chaitanya/Sutanto, Michael (CWR-M) 8-2

Women’s Final

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5, University of Chicago 1

Doubles

1. Nikolina Batoshvili/Alisha Chulani (CMS) def. #2 Sylwia Mikos/Shianna Guo (UCW) 8-6

2. Eugenia Lee/Claudia Ng (UCW) def. Gabby Lee/Sydney Lee (CMS) 8-3

3. Sarah Bahsoun/Devon Wolfe (CMS) def. Nicole Geller/Lauren Park (UCW) 8-6

Singles

1. #10 Sylwia Mikos (UCW) vs. Crystal Juan (CMS) 2-6, 6-1, 4-1, unfinished

2. #30 Shianna Guo (UCW) vs. Sydney Lee (CMS) 3-6, 2-3, unfinished

3. Claudia Ng (UCW) vs. Audrey Yoon (CMS) 2-6, 3-5, unfinished

4. Ella Brissett (CMS) def. Nicole Geller (UCW) 6-4, 6-3

5. Nikolina Batoshvili (CMS) def. #14 Miranda Yuan (UCW) 6-4, 6-3

6. #34 Sarah Bahsoun (CMS) def. #38 Lauren Park (UCW) 6-1, 6-3

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at rhiannon@tennisrecruiting.net.