Lions Fall to Defending A-10 Champions

The Columbia women’s tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to the Temple Owls on Friday, bringing its record to 3-6 this season. The Owls, who are the defending A-10 champions, won their fourth match out of the past five and improved to 7-4 on the season. The Lions, however, got two victories at the top two singles positions from sophomore Natasha Makarova at No. 1 singles, and freshman Nicole Stanziola at No. 2 singles. The Lions will next be in action during their spring break training trip, when the team will travel to California and take on three opponents before returning for the start of Ivy play.

“I thought it was a great match for my team,” said head coach Ilene Weintraub, “I saw a little bit of a spark in the eyes of the singles players at the top of the lineup and I think everyone played more determined and more focused.”

The Lions were swept in the doubles point, as the Owls won all three of the matches to go ahead 1-0. At No. 1 doubles, Makarova teamed with senior Nina Suda, but they were defeated by Theresa Stangl and Lucie Pazderova in a tight match, 8-6. At No. 2 doubles, Columbia sent out two freshmen as Eliza Matache and Nicole Stanziola faced Anastasia Rukavyshnykova and Christine Clermont. Rukavyshnykova, the reigning A-10 performer of the week, led her team to an 8-3 victory. Temple finished the sweep by defeating Marlena Hall and Natalia Christenson 8-4 at No. 3 doubles.

“I thought we started slow in doubles,” said the head coach, “and that was the difference.”

At No. 1 singles, Makarova found herself up against junior Elyse Steiner. Makarova won the first set 6-4, but went on to drop the second 6-1 as Steiner rallied. The third set was decided by a tiebreak, in which both players refused to give up. Makarova eventually pulled out a tough 14-12 decision.

At No. 2 singles, freshmen Stanziola fought against Theresa Stangl. The match began with the identical score line as No. 1 singles, as Stanziola won the first set 6-4, but dropped the second 6-1. The third set was once again determined by a tiebreak, which Stanziola won 10-7.

“Natasha and Nicole had great wins,” said Weintraub, “and for us to win at the top was very encouraging because these guys had just beaten UPenn 4-3, and lost to Dartmouth 4-3, so they were competitive with other Ivy schools.”

At No. 3 singles for the Lions was Matache, who almost pulled off the upset of Rukavyshnykova. Matache lost the first set 6-4, but rallied to win the second in a tiebreak, but fell short in the third set tiebreak, losing 10-7. The win pushed Rukavyshnykova to 8-2 in her last four matches, including four consecutive wins in singles.

The bottom of the order for Columbia did not fare as well however. Christine Clermont defeated senior Marlena Hall at No. 4 singles in straight sets, 6-1. 6-3, and fellow senior Nina Suda fell at No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-2. Rounding out the day for Columbia was Natalia Christenson at No. 6 singles who was defeated 6-0, 6-0 by Josephine Bergman

“I thought Marlena played a great match,” said Weintraub, “I thought she played everything right, but her opponent was just that good. Give credit to Temple, they were tough.”

The Lions will next be in action when they travel to California. They begin the trip by taking on Loyola Marymount on Sunday, March 15 at 10 a.m. PST.