Columbia repeats as Ivy League Champions

Sophomore Haig Schneiderman lifted his arms in triumph as his teammates stormed the courts at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center on Sunday, as the Lions won the 2010 Ivy League Championship. The title is the Lions’ second straight, third in four years, and fifth since 2000. The 6-1 victory over Princeton on Sunday, coupled with Yale’s defeat at the hands of Harvard the same day, gave the Lions the outright title, along with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. With a sweep of Penn and Princeton this weekend, the Lions finished the season 16-4 (6-1 Ivy) and are currently ranked No. 46 in the nation, the highest-ranked Ivy League team.

“I think really now that I look back, I love the composition of the team,” head coach Bid Goswami said. “We went 19 for 21 [at the top three spots] in Ivy play, and Mihai could have played No. 1—I didn’t want to change things.”

The weekend started off strong for Columbia with a 5-2 win over Penn outdoors. After struggling to adjust to the outdoors against Yale last weekend, Columbia had no trouble on Friday. The Lions won the doubles point by winning at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. The No. 1 duo of senior co-captains Jon Wong and Mihai Nichifor won 8-1, and sophomore Schneiderman and freshman Nate Gery won 8-6. The third doubles team of sophomore Rajeev Deb-Sen and Kevin Kung lost 8-6.

Wong got the Lions off to a fast start at No. 1 singles, winning 6-4, 6-2 against Eugen Brazdil. The duo played in the fall and Wong won in a third-set tie-break in that match, but had a much easier time this weekend, winning in straight sets. Nichifor defeated sophomore Phil Law in straight sets as well, 7-6, 6-4, and continued his undefeated record in Ivy singles. Schneiderman continued his stellar play at No. 3 singles, winning in straight sets as well, running his Ivy record this season to 6-0. At No. 6, Gery won his match in a third-set super tie-break, and freshman Cyril Bucher lost his in a third-set super tie-break. Kung, at No. 5 singles, lost his match by a strange scoreline of 6-1, 0-6, 6-1.

On Sunday, Wong and Nichifor played their final home Ivy match against the Princeton Tigers. The Lions started out strongly in the doubles point, winning at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. Wong and Nichifor continued their strong play in doubles, and Kung and Deb-Sen played well too, giving Columbia the doubles point. The first one off the court was again Nichifor, who won 6-0, 7-6 at No. 2 singles.
The next match to finish was Wong’s, at No. 1. Wong never managed to find his groove in singles play, and lost to freshman Matija Pecotic. Gery won his match in straight sets at No. 6, using his strong serve and forehand combination to overwhelm his opponent. The other matches all went to three sets, and came down to the wire. At No. 4 singles, Bucher served for his first set and ended up dropping it in a tie-break, but rebounded to easily win the second set. Kung, at No. 5 singles, struggled in his first set and lost, but rebounded to win his second set as well, going up 5-0 before winning it 6-3. Schneiderman won his first set at No. 3 singles, but dropped his second.

Schneiderman continued to battle into the third set, staying on serve with his freshman opponent until late into the set. At 4-5 in the third set with his opponent serving, Schneiderman fought all the way to deuce. With the entire crowd chanting “Let’s go Lions,” Schneiderman won the next two points with tremendous aggressive hitting from the baseline to clinch the win for Columbia. The team mobbed Schneiderman as soon as he won.

Kung rebounded from an early break deficit in his third set to win it 6-3, shouting emphatically as his match finished. Another shout went up from the team as they found out that Harvard had defeated Yale, giving Columbia the title outright. All eyes turned to Bucher, who was locked in a tight battle in the third set against Matthew Siow. The match featured Bucher’s strong returns against Siow’s net-rushing game. Just as it looked like it might go into a third-set tie-break, Bucher raised his game up a level, winning the match 7-5 in the third set.

The Lions won the eighth Ivy League title under head coach Goswami, who has been at Columbia for 28 seasons.

“All in all it was a great year,” Goswami said. “We started the last decade [the 2000s] with a win, and now we started this decade with a win. I hope we keep on doing the same thing for the next decade.”

The win had several historic implications for the Lions as well. Jon Wong became the first player in the storied history of Columbia tennis to be a three-time Ivy champion, winning in 2007, 2009, and 2010. Nichifor, a transfer from Manhattan College last fall, went undefeated in Ivy singles play, going 14-0 over his two seasons at Columbia.

Goswami compared his team this season favorably to his past teams.

“I tell you, it has changed so much, college tennis has, since the ’80s,” Goswami said. “In ’87, we had a team that competed against a lot of national teams. I thought we had a lot of fight these last two years. ... I wanted Nate to play [No.] 6, and I was deciding between Kevin and Rajeev at [No.] 5. It’s a good problem to have. Tennis is so funny. When you have confidence, you can do so many things. The depth of the team was special. We’ll definitely miss Jon and Mihai a lot, but we have a good core that will work hard.”

Goswami turned his focus toward the NCAA tournament after the match.

“It’s always a tough time for us,” Goswami said, referring to the tournament being held right after final exams. “They will have to get back to studies—I’ve taken a lot of their time. But we’ll work hard indoors, and then we’ll work hard outside. I thought we played well against Miami last year, but I didn’t think we were that well prepared.”

Goswami had only kind words for his top three singles players, who truly dominated the conference this year.

“I think Jon, Mihai, and Haig, the Big Three, they really dominated the league,” Goswami said. “You lose two matches at the top and win the rest—that’s really unbelievable.”
Columbia will play its next match at the NCAA Regionals. The first match is scheduled for Friday, May 14. The draw for the competition will be unveiled on ESPN News on May 4.