The Columbia women’s tennis team began its fall season with a road win against Florida Atlantic University by a score of 5-2. The Lions won the doubles point by winning two out of the three matches, and then won four of the six singles matches to seal the win, their first of the spring season.
Columbia’s number-one doubles team of junior Carling Donovan and freshmen Eliza Matache began the season on a sour note as they were defeated 8-6 in a tight match against Florida Atlantic’s Natalia Totevska and Dominique Wimmer. However, Columbia’s number-two and number-three teams raised their games and captured the doubles point. At number-two doubles, the duo of Stephanie Zilberman and Marlena Hall cruised to an 8-3 win over Erika Mrazkova and Danielle Simone of FAU. The third doubles match would decide who would win the crucial doubles point and Columbia sent out Nina Suda and Nicole Stanziola to face Cassie Bergeson and Emma Rossiter. Although the match was close, the Lions came away with the victory, 8-5, giving them a 1-0 lead in the match overall.
The Lions were led on the day by sophomore Zilberman who played number-one singles, taking a 6-4, 7-6 straight-sets win. Freshmen Stanziola, playing in her first dual match, won convincingly at number-two singles, 6-2, 6-3. Donovan lost at number-three singles in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 to give Florida Atlantic its first point, and to set the match at 3-1 in favor of the Lions. Matache, however, won at number-four singles, 6-1, 6-4 to seal the match for Columbia. Senior co-captain Suda showed her experience, winning at number-five singles, 6-4, 6-4 in two tight sets. Hall, playing at number-six singles, fell in a third set super-tiebreak to Virginia Augustin by a score of 3-6, 6-4, (10-7).
The Lions will travel to College Park, Md. next weekend to take on the University of Maryland in a match that is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.
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