NEW YORK - The Columbia men's tennis team opened the 2010 Ivy League season with a bang Saturday, as the Lions notched a 6-1 win over Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. After battling to a loss in the doubles point, the Lions swept the Big Red in all six singles spots to take the win, and improve to 7-3 overall, 1-0 in the Ivy League.
Two of the doubles matches went down to a tiebreaker, with Cornell coming out on top both times. At No. 1 doubles, senior co-captains Jonathan Wong and Mihai Nichifor lost 9-8, while Kevin Kung and Rajeev Deb-Sen saw the same score in the No. 3 spot. Haig Schneiderman and Nathaniel Gery also had a close loss in the No. 2 spot, as they fell 8-6.
Down 1-0, the Lions came roaring back. First-year Cyril Bucher led the way for Columbia, as he notched the first win of the day. Bucher won in the No. 5 spot, beating Cornell's Mirza Klis, 6-1, 6-1. Co-captain Jonathan Wong gave the Lions the 2-1 lead as his was the next match off the court. Wong beat Jon Jaklitsch in the No. 1 spot, 6-4, 7-6, to give the Lions the advantage. And Nathaniel Gery made it 3-1 with his win over Ashish Bhandari at No. 6, 7-6, 7-4.
Gery wasn't the only Lion to see a tiebreaker in the first set. Nichifor, Schneiderman and Deb-Sen all had first set tiebreakers against the Big Red. Luckily for the Lions, all three turned out to be wins. Nichifor had the first set loss at No. 2 to Andy Gauthier, but came back to win the second set 6-4, and clinch the match with a 7-6 win in the third. Nichifor's win proved to be the cementing win, as Cornell could no longer touch Columbia's 4-1 lead.
But that didn't stop Deb-Sen. The sophomore lost his first set in a tiebreaker as well, 7-6, but took the second set 6-3, before winning the match in a super tiebreaker, 11-9. And Schneiderman made it a sweep for the Lions, as he beat Jeremy Feldman at No. 3 singles, 6-7, 7-5, 10-6.
Up next, the team will hit the road for spring break, spending the week of March 15-21 in Texas. While there, the Lions will take on TCU, SMU, Texas-Arlington and Texas-San Antonio.
Columbia 6, Cornell 1
Doubles:
1. Gauthier/Feldman (COR) def. Wong/ Nichifor (COL), 9-8
2. Jaklitsch/Klis (COR) def. Gery/Schneiderman (COL), 8-5
3. Fife/Bernstein (COR) def. Kung/Deb-Sen (COL), 9-8
Singles:
1. Jonathan Wong (COL) def. Jon Jaklitsch (COR), 6-4, 7-6
2. Mihai Nichifor (COL) def. Andy Gauthier (COR), 6-7, 6-4, 7-6
3. Haig Schneiderman (COL) def. Jeremy Feldman (COR), 6-7, 7-5, 10-6
4. Rajeev Deb-Sen (COL) def. Jon Fife (COR), 6-7, 6-3, 11-9
5. Cyril Bucher (COL) def. Mirza Klis (COR), 6-1, 6-1
6. Nathaniel Gery (COL) def. Ashish Bhandari (COR), 7-6, 6-4
Order of finish: 5, 1 ,6 ,2*, 4, 3
