Columbia
PENN
Men's Tennis Claims Share of Ivy League Title With 4-2 Win Over Penn
4/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
[Columbia plays Penn next Sunday, April 29 in the Dick Savitt Tennis Center, for the NCAA bid which is awarded to the Ivy League champion. The match begins at 2 p.m.]
As emphasized by head coach Bid Goswami throughout the season, the key to the match was the all-important doubles point. Columbia played like a team on a mission, sweeping all three doubles matches to go up 1-0.
“That was the best doubles we played all year,” Goswami said. “Winning the doubles point was huge, but I knew we could win.” Senior Paul Ratchford sensed a different kind of resolve from his teammates when they took the Dick Savitt Tennis Center courts for the doubles matches that opened what amounted to the Ivy League championship.
“We needed the doubles point, we went out and took it,” he said. “From the first point, no one came out there scared.”
Junior Mark Clemente and first-year Jonathan Wong, playing at No. 3 doubles, hit shot after shot to finish off their Penn opponents. The 8-2 win announced Columbia's presence.
The other matches were closer ? Ratchford and fellow senior Marty Moore at first doubles against Jason Pinsky and Eric Riley, juniors Jared Drucker and Justin Chow against Jonathan Boym and Mikhail Bekker in second doubles.
But the six doubles players weren't the only assets Columbia had. During the doubles, the revolving airlock door at the south end of the Dick Savitt Tennis Center began emitting a steady stream of fans. Brought to the Center by a bus from campus, they moved to the central spectator area and immediately raised the level of electricity in the air dome.
“You have to give an assist to the crowd,” Goswami said. “They brought so much energy.” Ratchford agreed. “The fans were our ace in the hole today,” he said. “To hear them coming through the airlock, one after another, was a great feeling.”
A vocal, near-legendary Columbia sidelines fan, 1980's tennis player Rob Endelman, had been heard from the moment the Penn match began. Now he lent his famed voice to the new arrivals, and began to lead them.
“Here we go Lions, here we go! Here we go Lions, here we go!” The cheer echoed through the Savitt Center, giving Columbia's players a lift that could not be measured.
Buffeted by the crowds and noise on one side, the Lions' relentless play on the other, the Penn players had to feel pressured. And Goswami's men sensed it.
“We didn't give them a chance,” Bid said. “We were up two or three [service] breaks in both first and third doubles. When we got one break, we'd go for a second. If we got a second break, we'd go for a third.”
Columbia had won third doubles. Now Ratchford and Moore began to find a rhythm. Again and again they dropped returns on, or virtually on, the Penn baseline. At least six times in the final games, they scored on baseline returns which befuddled Pinsky and Riley, who couldn't figure out how they so consistently could keep the shot in play.
Ratchford and Moore won first doubles, 8-4, to clinch the doubles point, Ratchford serving an ace for the final point, but Drucker and Chow, at No. 2, continued to play hard. Boym and Bekker are two of the Ivy League's best players, but the Lions gained a service break and nurtured it against relentless pressure. They finally prevailed, 8-6, effecting a rare sweep of the three doubles matches.
Although the doubles point is just one point on the scoreboard, it is far more in the players' collective psyche. Penn's players never let up, but it loomed over them.
As players moved up and down the courts in singles, fans moved around the perimeters, behind the great curtains, trying to see who was winning, who was losing, who was poised for a break.
And at first it didn't look good. Pinsky at No. 1 and Boym at No. 2 each went up a set on Clemente and Drucker. Joseph Lok won a tiebreaker for the first set at No. 4 singles, putting Moore in a hole.
But Columbia was scoring steadily. Wong won a 6-3 set vs. Bekker, and Chow breezed past Brooklynite Alex Vasin, 6-1. Ratchford outlasted Justin Fox in a hard-fought 6-4 set.
Wong walked off the courts first, a 6-3, 6-1 singles victor over Bekker at No. 3. Columbia led, 2-0, and heads began to swivel between Court 5 (Ratchford-Fox) at the south end of the Tennis Center, and Court 6 at the north end, where Chow was beating Vasin. Boym was getting pretty close to a win over Drucker as well.
Like three great locomotives converging on the same crossing, the three matches thundered to conclusion. The roar of the crowd echoed, again and again.
Suddenly Ratchford scored the winning point on a brilliant 6-4, 6-0 victory. The crowd let out a cheer as Columbia went up, 3-0. Literally five seconds later, yet another roar erupted from the north end, and a swarm of Lion fans enveloped Justin Chow. His 6-1, 6-2 victory had clinched it ? for the first time since 2001, and the sixth time in his 25-year career at Columbia, a Bid Goswami team had won an Ivy League championship!
The outstanding Penn team with whom Columbia shares the 2007 title continued to play hard, notching wins at first and second singles although they would not affect the outcome of the match. Marty Moore's match with Joseph Lok was halted by mutual consent of the two coaches.
“I haven't played a match as good all year,” Ratchford said. “Everyone played the match of their lives today.” He paused. “I never really doubted we could do it,” he said.
Howard Endelman ?87CC, a celebrated Columbia player who captained the great Lion teams of the mid-1980's, looked over at Bid Goswami, reeling in comic shock from the orange tub of ice water which co-captain Mike Accordino and some “helpers” had dumped over his unsuspecting head.
“I'm especially happy for Bid,” Endelman said, “to get his sixth title in his 25th season. He has brought so much class and dignity to the coaching position. Bid Goswami, once again a champion.”
The results:
COLUMBIA 4, PENN 2
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Dick Savitt Tennis Center, New York, N.Y.
Doubles
1. Marty Moore-Paul Ratchford, Columbia, def. Jason Pinsky-Eric Riley, 8-4
2. Jared Drucker-Justin Chow, Columbia, def. Jonathan Boym-Mikhail Bekker, 8-6
3. Mark Clemente-Jonathan Wong, Columbia, def. Justin Fox-Brandon O'Gara, 8-2
Columbia wins the doubles point.
Singles
1. Pinsky, Penn, def. Clemente, 6-2, 6-3
2. Boym, Penn, def. Drucker, 6-4, 6-2
3. Wong, Columbia, def. Bekker, 6-3, 6-1
4. Moore, Columbia vs. Joseph Lok, Penn, 6-7, 3-2, DNF (did not finish)
5. Ratchford, Columbia, def. Fox, 6-4, 6-0
6. Chow, Columbia, def. Alex Vasin, 6-1, 6-2
Records: Columbia 15-4, 6-1 Ivy; Penn 12-12, 6-1 Ivy (2007 Ivy League Co-Champions)
Players Mentioned
