Women's Tennis Defeats Terriers before Faltering

Unfortunately, women's tennis teams are not awarded points for tough schedules. If they were, the Lions would be doing quite well. At last weekend's East Coast Athletic Conference fall championships, held at Harvard, the Lions faced two of the toughest teams in the East, Boston University and the University of Virginia, as well as Ivy foe Dartmouth.

Facing No. 5 Boston University in their first match, the Lions notched a major upset by soundly defeating the heavily favored Terriers. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Joyce Chang and first-year Miriam Rahali and the No. 2 team of junior Shelly Mittal and sophomore Lucia Aniello both came away with victories to earn the doubles point for the underdogs.

The Lions then proceeded to win five out of six singles matches as Mittal, junior Leena Krishnaswamy, sophomore Melissa Nguyen, Aniello, and senior Ilene Weintraub emerged victorious.

Later that afternoon, the Lions met up with another heavily favored squad. Their quarterfinal opponent was the University of Virginia, seeded number two in the tournament. Unable to carry on the momentum from the morning match, the Lions were swept 7-0. The lone victory against the Bulldogs came from the duo of Chang and Rahali in doubles play. The Lions dropped the other two doubles matches, however, and were unable to earn a point.

"Virginia was tough. We lost a close one to them last year," Krishnaswamy said. "Everyone fought really hard. We definitely felt like we were still in it."

In their last match of the tournament, the Lions faced conference opponent Dartmouth. The Lions fell 5-2 in a match that Head Coach Rob Kresberg said "could have gone either way." The top two doubles teams again secured the doubles point for the Lions, but only Krishnaswamy was able to emerge victorious in singles play.

Though the team faced defeat from two of their three weekend opponents, Kresberg was happy with the weekend. He was especially impressed with the Light Blue's upset against the Terriers.

"The first match [against Boston] was very good for us. BU was seeded No. 5, and we beat them handily," Kresberg said. "I don't think that anyone thought we could win that match, and so that was a really big win for us."

He was also extremely pleased with his squad's doubles play throughout the tournament. He explained that his strategy in deciding duos was based on "combining the talent of the first-years with the experience of the upperclassmen."

The No. 1 team of Chang and Rahali finished the weekend undefeated, the No. 2 team of Mittal and Aniello went 2-1, and the No. 3 team, consisting of first-years Kristin Martinez and Sarita Konka, narrowly lost in their two matches.

The Lions will maintain a busy schedule as the fall season winds to a close. Next up for Columbia is local rival Fordham, followed by a match with Seton Hall.