Lin Headlines Men's Tennis ITA Preseason Rankings, All-American Championship Selection
9/8/2014 6:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis
NEW YORK – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released its preseason national singles and doubles rankings, in conjunction with the 2014 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championship selections this afternoon, and the Columbia men's tennis team is well-represented on both lists.
Senior All-American and reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Winston Lin will begin his final campaign in Morningside Heights ranked No. 8 in the nation in singles. The Williamsville, New York, native finished 2014 with a team-high 31 wins including a perfect 16-0 dual matches record in the Lions top spot to help Columbia make its first Sweet Sixteen NCAA Championship run in program history.
Joining Lin the singles rankings is classmate Ashok Narayana, who comes in at No. 108. Narayana finished the 2014 campaign with a 14-3 overall record at the 2, 3 and 4 spots.
After posting a perfect 18-0 dual match mark until the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, Mike Vermeer will enter his junior campaign No. 107 on the national list. In primarily the sixth position, he won 11 matches in straight sets in 2014.
Based on their rankings, Lin and Narayana earned bids into the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships, the first major of the college tennis season in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Junior Dragos Ignat and senior Max Schnur have also earned a spot in the 64-player tournament which starts Thursday Oct. 2
Columbia will be represented in the doubles main draw by the pair of Narayana and Schnur, who rank sixth in the ITA. The senior partnership teamed up to win the USTA/ITA Indoor National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship, the first major title in Columbia history, a year ago en route to 2014 ITA All-Star Team honors. The All-Ivy League first team tandem partnered for 11 wins including a perfect 5-0 record against Ancient Eight opponents to help the Lions to their historic season in 2014.
Columbia's 2014 schedule gets underway Friday, Sept. 19 at Princeton's Ivy Plus Invitational.
Players Mentioned
