CU women's tennis collects three wins over break, raises record above .500

Spring break wasn’t much of a break at all for the women’s tennis team. This past week, the girls trekked down to Boca Raton, Fla. to face four competitors. Columbia ended the week 3-1, improving its record to 8-7 overall. Starting off their week on a solid note, the Lions defeated local opponent NJIT but could not hold up against No. 10 Clemson. Columbia rallied back from the loss, picking up wins at the tail end of the week against Florida Atlantic on Thursday and Division II Nova Southeastern 8-1 on Friday.

Securing the doubles point, the Lions only dropped one match against NJIT. The loss came at the No. 2 spot, where freshman Katarina Kovacevic and senior Carling Donovan were paired up for the first time. At No. 1, freshman Chelsea Davis and junior Natasha Makarova also played together for the first time and secured an 8-2 win against NJIT’s Ana Lidon and Anine Lovdal. Columbia’s other win came at No. 3, where Natalia Christenson and Eliza Matache crushed their opponents 8-3. The Lions then dominated the singles courts, dropping only one set and defeating the Highlanders 7-0.

With a successful first match, the Lions faced No. 10 Clemson, the highest-ranked opponent Columbia will face this season. The Lions fought hard, but the Tigers were too much to handle and swept doubles and all six singles matches. Notable play came from the No. 1 doubles team of two freshmen, Kovacevic and Nicole Bartnik, who paired up for the first time. Taking on the No. 17 doubles team, the girls played well but lost 8-2. The No. 2 and 3 doubles teams dropped their matches as well, giving the doubles point to the Tigers. In singles, Bartnik faced No. 22 Josipa Bek but lost 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 1 spot. Matache entered a tough contest at No. 3 against No. 73 Nelly Ciolkowski. Matache performed well in her second set but ultimately lost 6-0, 6-3. All of the other matches were dropped, giving Clemson the 7-0 win.

Despite the tough loss, the Lions came back to win their last two matches. First, the Lions faced Florida Atlantic, sweeping the doubles point and winning five of the six singles spots, earning the victory. The only loss of the match came at the No. 5 singles, in which Donovan faced a tough match against Dominique Wimmer. After losing the first set 7-5, Donovan made a strong comeback in the second set, winning 7-5. The tiebreaker was close, but Donovan couldn’t top her opponent, losing 10-6. The close loss would not hurt the Lions, though, as they came away with a 6-1 win.

Still carrying momentum from its victory against Florida Atlantic, Columbia faced Division II team Nova Southeastern, its last opponent of the week. In Division II matches, scoring counts each doubles match as one point instead of the Division I rule of awarding one doubles point for the best of three doubles matches. The Lions swept all three doubles matches, earning three points to take an early lead before entering singles matches. In singles, Columbia won five of the six singles matches, securing the Lions a 8-1 win over the Sharks, who hold a Division II national ranking of 24.

With a successful spring training week, the Lions are ready to wrap up their nonconference play. Returning home to New York City, Columbia will host local rival Fordham on Friday, March 26 at 4 p.m. This is the team’s last match before Ivy League play begins.