It was a battle between the #6 and #12 ranked teams in the Central Region, as well as a clash between the #31 ranked team in the nation and one who is standing on the top 40 border looking for an invite.

John Carroll made its argument to belong in the top 40, taking #31 ranked Case Western Reserve to the limit before falling by a 5-4 score on Sunday.

The Blue Streaks dropped two of the three doubles matches, with only Alyssa Krupp and Carlye Campagna prevailing in the #3 match by an 8-5 count.

That would force John Carroll to win four of the six singles matches to win the dual. It almost happened.

The Spartans would inch closer to victory with wins at #2 and #4 singles, but Lauren O'Malley gave her team hope as she won career match number 101 at #1 singles . O'Malley (ranked #1 in the ITA Central Region) topped Madeleine Paolucci (ranked #6 in the region) by a 6-3 6-2 score.

Skye Harwood followed with a win over Kristin Jones in the #6 match (6-3, 6-4) as did Carlye Campagna over Shreyaa Mukund in the #5 match (6-2, 6-1), tying the match at 4-4.

That set the stage for the match to come down to a battle between CWRU sophomore Mira Amin and JCU freshman Megan Reese. The Blue Streak rookie won the first set 6-4 but Amin roared back to win the seconds et, 6-1. The two would play a third set tiebreaker, and Amin would outlast Reese by a 10-7 count.

Case Western Reserve is 7-7 following the win, while John Carroll's  seven-match winning streak comes to an end as the team record falls to 9-4.