Tennis Competes in Nonconference Matches Before Ivy League Play

The men’s tennis team returns to action this weekend against two non-conference foes following a two-week layoff, while the women’s team will look to continue the momentum it gained last weekend in a sweep of its dual meet.

The men will look to rebound from a disheartening 5-2 loss at the hands of a talented Radford team on Feb. 2. This weekend the men play host to two home matches, beginning with Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday and ending with Manhattan College on Saturday.

Fairleigh Dickinson comes in with a fierce energy, having beaten Queens College 8-1 last weekend. The Knights have lost a total of no more than two games in any of their top three singles matches. Sophomore Philip Stephens leads a team that comes to New York with three consecutive wins and five victories out of its last six meets dating back to the fall season. Stephens comes into this weekend’s match without having lost a set all season and having been challenged only by Army’s number-one player Phil Muhawi. The matchup between Stephens and Lions senior co-captain Mark Clemente could be pivotal in this meet.

Saturday’s match against Manhattan College could prove interesting for the Light Blue, as junior Bogdan Borta transferred from Manhattan to Columbia at the end of last year. But the Jaspers will be out to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with even without Borta. The Lions managed to defeat the Jaspers last season, 5-2, despite losing at number one and two singles, a victory due in large part to the outstanding doubles play.

If Columbia is to repeat its victory this year, it must get similar play from its doubles teams led by Borta and Justin Chow, who are ranked number one in the northeast and number 20 nationally. But the Jaspers look to be as solid and deep as they were last year, when they completed their fourth straight season undefeated in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Jaspers’ conference feat is even more impressive considering that they dropped only two points all season long.

The head coach of Manhattan College, Nik Misra, is pursuing an interesting recruiting strategy as well, targeting foreign players. As such, the team roster includes players from Costa Rica, Romania, Poland, and Switzerland.

The Columbia women’s tennis team is coming off a sweep of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and the University of Massachusetts heading into Friday’s showdown with St. John’s Red Storm. Last weekend allowed for the emergence of junior Nina Suda and freshman Natasha Makarova as a solid doubles team. The pair won both of their matches this weekend and helped Columbia win the doubles point.

The Lions, led by first-year head coach Ilene Weintraub, are 3-2 on the season in non-conference play. St. John’s comes in 0-3 on the season, having fallen to Ivy League opponents Princeton and Brown by a combined score of 10-4. Senior transfer Maria Zivcicova, who has struggled this season, going 0-2 at number one singles, leads the Red Storm.