Columbia Aiming for Above .500 Mark

After a three-week break, women's tennis resumes its season this Friday against Army, a team the Lions dispatched swiftly 7-0 last season. The Lions look to extend their present winning streak to three games and bring their record to 3-2.

The Lions are glad to return to their home surface. First-year assistant coach Manisha Patel attributed her team's first two losses in Massachusetts against Boston College, 1-6, and Boston University, 0-7, to difficult surfaces. "It's very difficult to play on BC's courts. They were very slick, almost like glass," Patel said.

Junior and second singles player Angela Hendry also noted the advantage of playing on a familiar court in Columbia's 5-2 home win against UMBC. "It felt good to be back on our own surface. We are more familiar with it than our opponents," Hendry said.

Columbia's doubles play has markedly improved over the course of the season, thanks in large part to the expertise of Manisha Patel, who was a doubles player by trade in her college years. Head coach Rob Kresberg made note of his team's encouraging results in doubles in recent weeks. "I'm very proud of our doubles ... [with] the way they bounced back from last weekend in Boston. They didn't have a very good time of it [there]."

Against UMBC at home, the Lions swept the doubles in a decisive fashion, taking first doubles in a 9-7 tiebreaker and capturing the other two 8-3 and 8-3. Sweeping the doubles point is always an important boost to confidence and would surely daunt an intimidated Army team.

Men's tennis is off until next Wednesday, when it is scheduled to play Loyola Marymount at Baker Field's Dick Savitt Center. The Lions will look to rebound from a rough encounter with 27th ranked Alabama in which they lost 7-0.