Columbia Upset at ECAC Championships

Men’s tennis suffered a deflating 4-3 loss to Brown in its second round match at the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament, but came back to defeat Yale for fifth place on Sunday, 4-3. Ranked second in a draw of sixteen teams, Columbia was thought to be a serious contender to win the championship.

The Lions began play on Saturday, blasting St. Bonaventure 6-0. Columbia swept all three doubles matches and won five out of six singles matches. Bodgan Borta, a transfer from Manhattan and Columbia’s number-one singles player, led Leo Mochizuki 6-2, 4-5, when play was halted due to rain.

Second singles player Jared Drucker raved about Borta. “He’s a tremendous addition to the team,” he said. “He’s a great singles and doubles player. Above all, he’s a great match player.”

The Lions looked like world-beaters when they finished with St. Bonaventure, but against Brown their success was short-lived.

Brown snatched the doubles point by winning two out of three matches–Brown’s Chris Lee and Saurabh Kohli eked out a 9-8 win against Borta and Mark Clemente while Brown’s Nathaniel Gorham and Basu Ratnam defeated Jonathan Wong and Kevin Kung, 8-5.

Drucker said the loss was disappointing, adding that the team “... came in with high expectations because we won Ivies [last season]. We came in ready to win this tournament and it didn’t happen.”

Drucker went on to acknowledge Brown’s competitive play, crediting them with a hard-fought victory. “Brown played really well. They came out really intense, and we didn’t match their intensity,” Drucker said.

But, in defeat, there was also defiance. “It doesn’t mean much for the team ... anyone can win on any given day. I consider us to be the toughest team going into Ivies. We’re going to come back and fight in the spring semester,” Drucker said.

Against the Elis, Columbia went down 3-0 after losing the doubles point and the first two singles matches. But the Lions fought back and were able to take all four matches remaining to claim the victory.
Women’s tennis was off this past weekend, but plays its next matches Oct. 5-7 at the Flushing Meadows Invitational.