No. 58 ranked tennis takes on pair of foes

The men’s tennis team, ranked No. 58 in the country this week, will continue its nonconference portion of the schedule this weekend, when they host St. John’s and George Washington at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center. The Lions are coming off a weekend sweep of two other nonconference opponents, defeating Binghamton and Stony Brook by 4-3 and 5-2, respectively. The two wins boosted Columbia’s record this season to 5-3, with all three losses coming to nationally-ranked opponents.

St. John’s will enter Friday’s matchup coming off a disappointing 4-3 loss to No. 71 Princeton. The loss dropped the Red Storm’s record to 2-3, with all three of the losses coming to Ivy League schools. In their most recent loss against Princeton, the Red Storm split the singles matches, getting wins at No. 3, 4 and 5 singles, but Princeton won the doubles point by capturing the No. 1 and 2 doubles matches by scores of 8-5.

St. John’s also competed in the ECACs Feb. 13-15. The Red Storm lost in the first round to Cornell by a score of 7-0, and also dropped a 4-2 decision to Dartmouth. The Lions defeated both the Big Red and Big Green en route to the finals.

“I think they are a very talented team,” Columbia head coach Bid Goswami said. “I don’t think they played well at the ECACs. The doubles against Cornell was very close, and they lost it 9-8 in the tiebreak, and then one guy got hurt and they fell apart. But I was just looking, and they lost a tight 4-3 match to Princeton.”

The Red Storm’s top singles player is Pavel Cerny, a junior from the Czech Republic who is 2-3 this season, with his three losses coming against Ivy League teams. Last spring, Cerny went 9-8 in singles play, including a win at No. 3 singles against Columbia, where he defeated then-freshman Ekin Sezgen in three tight sets.

Last spring, Columbia edged out St. John’s 4-3, splitting the six singles matches but winning the all-important doubles point. The Lions swept the doubles point, winning all three matches in what would ultimately decide the outcome of the entire contest. St. John’s, which featured two seniors at No. 1 and 2 singles, won the No. 2, 3, and 4, singles matches that day against a depleted Columbia lineup.

“I expect that they have regrouped and are ready to go,” Goswami said. “They have some talented players. I think it will be a good match.”

George Washington is a team Columbia has not faced in recent years. The Colonials enter the weekend with a 1-2 record this season, with their lone win coming over Duquesne. George Washington will also play Cornell and Binghamton this weekend, before coming to New York City. Columbia has already notched up wins this season over Cornell and Binghamton, and will travel up to Ithaca next Friday to take on Cornell in the start of Ivy play. Junior Chris Kushma has been a bright spot for the Colonials all season, as he comes into this weekend’s matches with a record of 12-5 this season, playing primarily in the No. 1 singles position.

“George Washington is a team I don’t know that well, since this is the first time we are playing them,” Goswami said, “but I know they have some quality players. It’s a good thing we are playing at home, and this has been a much better week of practice.”

In both matches, Goswami highlighted the importance of the doubles point.

“I think that’s why we are working really hard in doubles,” he said. “We got lucky against Cornell, two of the matches at No. 5 and 6 singles were very close, and then against Harvard we lost the doubles point and never recovered. We are definitely playing better than we were before the ECACs, so it seems like things are falling into place with all these matches.”

The Lions will host both St. John’s and George Washington at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center. The match against St. John’s is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Friday, and the George Washington match will start at 2 p.m. Sunday.