The men’s and women’s tennis teams put together outstanding efforts over the weekend and combined to defeat three tough opponents. On Friday, the men comfortably shut out Fairleigh Dickinson 7-0, while the women lost a nail biter against St. John’s, 4-3. On Saturday, the men were up against the Jaspers of Manhattan College. The Lions eliminated the Jaspers 6-1 and established themselves as a force to be reckoned with come the Ivy League season.
Against Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday, the men dominated the day from start to finish, allowing only one of the matches to extend to three sets. The win is all the more impressive for the Lions considering that the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson received a bid to the NCAA tournament last season and came into Friday’s match having won five out of their last six matches in the spring season. The doubles matches, each decided by a single break, proved to be the most intense and pivotal moments of the competition. Although Columbia won all three doubles face-offs to secure the doubles point, none of the match outcomes were assured until the very end.
The Lions’ sweep of the singles matches was aided by the absence of Knights’ sophomore number-one singles player Philip Stephens. Columbia made few mistakes in the singles contests, and the number-one singles match between senior Mark Clemente and freshmen Matt Gordon went the full three sets. Clemente won the match 10-8 in a third set super tiebreaker.
On Saturday, head coach Bid Goswami ensured that the Lions would not disappoint, leading them to dominate Manhattan College 6-1. Goswami opted to rest some of his top players, including senior Mark Clemente and junior Bogdan Borta. The absence of Borta must have been a relief to the Jaspers, who saw Borta lead them at number-one singles for two seasons before transferring this fall.
Columbia, however, never allowed Manhattan to gain ground in the doubles matches, surrendering an astounding one game across the three matches. The Lions continued their utter domination at the number three, four, five, and six singles matches, losing a combined two games between all four of the matches. In the absence of Clemente and Borta, sophomore Jon Wong played and won at number one singles 6-4, 7-5 while senior co-captain Justin Chow lost at number two singles by the same score. The two wins over the weekend improved the Lions’ record to 5-2 in the season.
The women, on the other hand, had a much tougher task at hand with the Red Storm of St. John’s coming to the Dick Savitt Tennis Center on Friday. Columbia won at number two and number three doubles to seize the doubles point, a component critical to the outcome of the match. The Red Storm, however, refused to wilt, and seeking their first win of the season, raced out to win at number two and number six singles. After freshman Natasha Makarova won at number five singles 6-2,6-1, the match was tied at two apiece, with the outcome hanging in the balance.
Fellow freshman Stephanie Zilberman overcame a feisty opponent to win at number three singles giving Columbia a 3-2 overall edge. After number-one singles player Nina Suda lost her match, all eyes at the tennis center turned to the number-four singles match between Columbia’s Carling Donovan and Emily Barnett of St. John’s. Barnett raced out to an early lead, winning the first set 6-2, but Donovan fought back, winning the second set 6-2 to level the match at one set apiece. Barnett, however, won a tight third set 6-2 to seal the victory for St. John’s in a match that came down to the last point.
The Lions’ next contests will be on Friday against St. John’s for the men’s team and versus Temple for the women’s.