The Emory University women's tennis team held on to defeat Case Western Reserve, 5-4, in the consolation round of the ITA Indoor Championships Friday morning in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

The Spartans rallied in singles to force the match to come down to the decisive point on court three but junior Ilayda Baykan pulled through with the clincher, defeating Radha Patel in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.

The match began with the Eagles sweeping the doubles matches to move out to a 3-0 lead. Emory saw a pair of 8-3 results with junior Ana Cristina Perez and freshman Emily Kantrovitz winning on court one and sophomore Eliza McPherron and freshman Iris Berman teaming for the win on court three. Senior Alexa Goetz and freshman Izzy Antanavicius rounded out the doubles sweep, securing the tiebreak win, 8-7 (7).

Goetz put the Eagles on the brink of the win with her 6-1, 6-1 win at the sixth spot but CWRU then began to rally.

The Spartans started to chip into the Emory lead with straight set wins on courts one, two and five, bringing the score to 4-3 with courts three and four still to be decided.

McPherron forced a third set on four but ultimately fell to Katalina Wang 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, switching all focus to Baykan on three. After dropping the first set, Baykan recovered to win 12 of the final 14 games to send the Eagles into tomorrow's fifth place match.

Emory will conclude the 2023 ITA National Indoor Championships on Sunday morning, taking on Sewanee beginning at 8:00 AM.