Post Match Interview With Coach Browning, Hayden Cassone and Nolan Shah

Nolan Shah's Match-Clinching Point In NCAA D-III Title Match

The Emory men's tennis team captured the program's sixth-ever national title on Wednesday, defeating fellow University Athletic Association member Case Western Reserve in the finals of the NCAA D-III Championships.  The Eagles won their fifth straight match and closed out their season at 10-3 following a hard-fought 5-2 victory over the Spartans who finished at 14-3. The Championships were held at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Emory got on the board first when the No. 1 doubles team of Hayden Cassone and Antonio Mora, playing together for the first time since May 2, crafted an 8-2 decision against Neil Mabee and Jonathan Powell.  The Eagles pushed their lead to 2-0 after the No. 2 tandem of Andrew Esses and Will Wanner posted an 8-4 triumph over Chaitanya Aduru and Anthony Kanam, closing out their season with a 6-0 won-lost slate.  The final doubles point was recorded by Case with the No. 3 team of James Hopper and Vishwa Aduru prevailing over Sahil Raina and Nolan Shah.

Esses captured the first singles decision at the No. 3 spot with his 6-3, 6-0 verdict over Matthew Chen staking Emory to a 3-1 advantage.  The Spartans then narrowed the Eagles' lead to 3-2 after Hopper topped Cassone at first singles, 6-0, 6-3.  Wanner continued his strong postseason play and in the process gave the Eagles a 4-2 margin when he manufactured a 6-0, 6-4 outcome over Chaitanya Anduru at No. 4, upping his record to 7-4.  Needing one more point to seal the outcome, all eyes were focused on No. 2 singles where Mora and Vishwa Aduru were waging a battle of attrition, No. 5 singles where Emory's Mark Sverdlov was battling Powell and the No. 6 singles matchup between the Eagles' Shah and CWRU's Kanam. Both Mora's and Sverdlov's matches went to a third set with Mora up 5-4 and looking to break Aduru for the deciding point while Sverdlov faced a 3-4 deficit in the final set.  Eventually, it was freshman Nolan Shah who accounted for the memorable point with his 6-3, 6-4 triumph. 

This year's squad joins the 2003, 2006, 2012, 2017 and 2019 Emory teams to win national titles.  Earlier in the day, the Emory women won that program's eighth national championship, marking the third time in school history (2021, 2006 and 2003) that both programs won the national championship in the same season.  

Emory has now won a total of 29 national titles in his history.

With the team portion of the Championships completed, the Eagles will be represented in the Singles and Doubles Championships. Hayden Cassone will compete in the Singles Championship and team with Mora in doubles.  Action gets underway on Friday.