Men’s Tennis Wins Close Match, Women Fall

The Columbia men’s tennis team won a thrilling come-from-behind match against Cornell on Saturday, 4-3, while the women fell to the Big Red, 6-1, in a match that was much closer than the overall score indicated. While the men lost the doubles point, they managed to recover because of the heroics of senior Mark Clemente. The co-captain managed to come back from a set down to win a tight match at number-two singles, defeating Josh Goldstein, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8), 6-1 to lead the Lions to a win.

Clemente has split time at number-one and number-two singles, due primarily to a knee injury which has kept him out of some practices and matches. On Saturday, however, Clemente’s perseverance paid off and helped the Lions avoid an upset. The Light Blue lost the doubles point for only the fourth time all year, which put the Lions down immediately, 1-0. Columbia’s number-one doubles team of Bogdan Borta and Justin Chow lost to Cornell’s number-one team of Weston Nichols and Josh Goldstein, 8-5. The Lions’ premier doubles team, which was once ranked as high as number 20 in the nation, has faltered of late, and it will need to improve its play if the Lions are to repeat as Ivy League champions this season.

As the singles matches got underway, the Lions took easy wins at number-one, number-three, and number-five singles, courtesy of Jon Wong, Borta and Chow, respectively. However, Columbia quickly lost at number-four and number-six singles as Jared Drucker and Kevin Kung were defeated in straight sets. The overall score was tied 3-3, and all eyes turned to the battle between Clemente and Goldstein. Clemente lost the first set in a fiercely fought tiebreak and was down 5-4, 30-30, two points away from losing the match for the Lions. However, he managed to fight back and win the second set in a tiebreak. After this feat, he ran away with the third set, 6-1, to give the Lions their 4-3 victory. The win improves the Light Blue’s record to 6-4 (1-0 Ivy).

The women took on the Big Red at Columbia’s Dick Savitt Tennis Center in front of an unusually large and enthusiastic crowd. The Light Blue faithful cheered every winner as though it was for the Ivy League title, as first-year head coach Ilene Weintraub’s team fought nearly even with Cornell but ultimately fell, 6-1. The match was close from the outset as the Lions nearly stole the doubles point—they needed a victory at number-two doubles. Columbia’s number-two team of Stephanie Zilberman and Lauren Shearer took Cornell’s team all the way to the brink, ultimately losing 9-7 to give Cornell the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.

Cornell extended its lead to 2-0 in the singles matches as the Lions’ number-three player, Sydney Murray, lost in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, but Carling Donovan put the Lions on the board with a 6-4, 7-5 win at number-four singles to bring the score to 2-1. The rest of the singles matches went three sets, an indication of how well-matched these two teams were. Although the overall score was 6-1, it could just as easily have been a Columbia victory had a few breaks gone the Lions’ way. Nevertheless, the loss dropped the Lions to 2-8 (0-1 Ivy).

The men will take on Dartmouth on Friday and Harvard on Saturday at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center, while the women will play both teams on the road.