Men’s Tennis Suffers Upset At Brown As Women Still Look for First League Win

The Columbia men’s and women’s tennis teams finished a disappointing weekend that saw the men’s hopes for an Ivy League championship repeat take a serious blow and left the women still searching for their first league win. The men squeaked by Yale 4-3 on Bogdan Borta’s three-set win at number-three singles but were upset 5-2 by a 74th-ranked Brown squad. Both Yale and Brown, on the other hand, swept the Columbia women, who won only one point between the two matches combined.

The men, last season’s Ivy League champions, began the weekend slowly after losing the doubles point against the upstart Yale Bulldogs. The match was the Lions’ first outdoor contest since their spring break trip to Texas, and the Light Blue seemed to have a hard time adjusting to the variable conditions. The team posted wins at number-one, number-two, and number-six singles, but fell at number-four singles to bring the score to 3-2 in favor of Columbia. Senior Justin Chow, at number-five singles, seemed poised to end the drama, as he had three match points against Yale first-year Calvin Bennett. But Bennett refused to be intimidated, fighting off all three match points to win a tight battle 7-5 in the third set and even the overall score at 3-3.

All eyes then turned to the battle at number-three singles, which pitted Borta against Yale’s Rory Green. Borta lost the first set, but came back to win the second. He fought off an early break in the third set and steadied his play to clinch the overall match for Columbia, 4-3.

Columbia proceeded to come out strong against Brown as the Lions won the doubles point to go ahead 1-0. The Lions, however, were inexplicably tripped up in singles play, losing five out of the six matches. The only Columbia player to post a win in the singles competition was Borta at number-three singles. Jon Wong, playing at number-one singles, split two tight sets and was forced to play a third-set tiebreak to decide the match. By then, the overall outcome had already been decided, and Wong lost the tiebreak, 8-6. Mark Clemente, at number-two singles, gave up two incredibly close sets, 7-6, 7-5, to lose his match as well. In addition, senior Jared Drucker at number-four singles lost his match by the same score as Clemente, 7-6, 7-5. Chow was defeated in straight sets, and freshman Kevin Kung lost in three sets to close out a disappointing weekend for the Lions.

The women’s team found themselves up against an inspired Yale team that leads the Ivy League standings at 5-0. Columbia put up a strong fight in all of the doubles matches, despite the fact that the Bulldogs have dominated the doubles point all season long. The Lions lost the doubles point, but a resilient Columbia squad continued to fight as the singles play began. Junior number-one singles player Nina Suda, who stretched a tough Yale opponent to a third-set deciding tiebreaker, spearheaded the Light Blue’s effort. Bulldog Janet Kim, however, capitalized on her fourth chance and took the match 3-6, 7-5, 14-12. Carling Donovan posted the Lions’ sole win at number-four singles, dominating her opponent and winning 6-2, 6-1. The win proved to be the Light Blue’s only victory, however, as it lost the match by a score of 6-1.

Columbia next welcomed Brown to the Dick Savitt Tennis Center and once against turned in a great effort in the double matches. Although the first doubles team was overmatched, the Lions’ second doubles team extended the Bears to a tiebreak, and the third doubles team lost 8-6. Brown, however, took the doubles point and continued its momentum into the singles lineup, sweeping the singles for an overall score of 7-0. Although the rest of the matches were close, the Lions clearly seemed to run out of gas after an exhausting weekend of ups and downs.

The men’s team will close out its regular season by welcoming Princeton on Friday and traveling to Penn on Sunday. The women will travel to Princeton on Friday and end their regular season by hosting the nationally ranked Quakers on Saturday.