Zoe Swenson, ‘23
CWRU's A team this year began their season with an energy of focused effort and dedication, ready to take on the season with a win at their first tournament, Carnegie Mellon's "Swear Me In Scotty" invitational. While the weekend ended with a tightly fought round but close loss to the eventual winners of the tournament, Juniata A and an ultimate record of 5-3, the members of A team were no strangers to overcoming defeat and spent the next few weeks refining crosses, witnesses, and theory in preparation for their next entry in the competitive season.
That next competition would come in the (digital) courtrooms of California, where Case Western would go toe to toe with the teams of UC Davis' Cowtown Classic. Anxious to win one of Cowtown's coveted cow-themed team awards, Case Western competed with drive and vigor and left day one with a perfect undefeated record. Day Two of Cowtown unfortunately got the best of Case Western, leaving them with another close loss, honorable mention, and record of 5-3.
Now was the time for Case Western to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Taking the winter break as an opportunity to push their team to new limits, Case Western revised or rewrote almost all themes, roles, and theories in an effort to push themselves to the next level. With the new changes made, Case Western walked into Michigan State's Wolverine Classic ready to grapple with some of the best teams in the country. And grapple they did, taking on some of the best teams in the country, like UC Irvine, Rutgers, and Cal Berkeley. Yet while the battle was hard fought, Case Western left Michigan much the same as they entered it, with the not unimpressive but by this point certainly irritating record of 5-3.
In the words of head coach Bradley Ouambo, "5-3 is the enemy oh my god."
We hope this record serves as an open invitation to the teams competing at next weekend's Hoosier Hoedown, Case Western's last invitational outing this competitive season, to either enter the courtroom with enough competitive force to give them a losing record, or lose enough that we can actually place at a tournament.