2023 NCAA Championships: D3 Case Western men win school's first national title

The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team made program and school history on Tuesday night at the USTA National Campus by winning the 2023 Division III NCAA title.

After falling short in the national title match in each of the past two years, the Spartans soared to the trophy with a 5-2 win against second-ranked Tufts University in Orlando. The Spartans stormed out of the gates with a doubles sweep to lead 3-0 before senior James Hopper clinched victory with a 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 1 singles.

“It's a moment that you dream of," said the senior, a multiple-time All-American.

"Especially the previous two years, losing in the final, coming so close, you have all those emotions coming to you and especially personally for me as well."

The clinching win was even sweeter for Hopper after he was on the opposite side of the decisive victory in last year's final.

“Last year, getting clinched on in the final, that stung a lot," he said. "And then we have a whole year. It's not like you can get back to it the next month and get right after it. There's a lot of time where that soaks in and I think we were super motivated this year.

"We were all driven with one clear goal and it’s a super special group of guys that I couldn't be more proud of and wouldn't want to enjoy it with anybody else.”

Watch the full post-match press conference with James Hopper and head coach Todd Wojtowski.

Chicago head coach Jay Tee, who coached the school's men's team to the D3 title last season, is now one win away from repeating the feat with the women's program. After dealing the pressure of the undefeated season, Tee feels the team can play free now that they've returned to the title match.

"I told the women after the match: It's harder, I think, to get to a finals with the expectations and the pressure of giving yourself a shot," he said. "Once you're in the finals, you can really let it hang out. We're looking forward to that tomorrow and are learning a little bit from last year.”

CMS also advanced with a 5-1 victory against Emory to advance to their fourth straight D3 final. The win was keyed by sophomore Alisha Chulani, who won a tiebreak at No. 1 doubles with Nikolina Batoshvili to give the Athenas a 2-1 lead and then raced to a 6-2, 6-2 result at No. 1 singles.