No. 16 Men's Tennis Takes on No. 8 Georgia on Day 1 at MLK Invite
1/17/2015 2:02:00 PM | Men's Tennis
ATLANTA, Ga. – The No. 16 Columbia men's tennis team took the court for the first in 2015 this Saturday when the Lions took the court at Georgia Tech's MLK Invitational at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex, where they took on the eighth-ranked Dogs of Georgia.
Georgia gained momentum early on after earning three victories to take the doubles point. Dragos Ignat and Richard Pham fell to Nathan Pasha and Nick Wood, 6-2, on the third court. After evening the match at 2-all, the Dogs pair tallied four straight points to take the match. The Lions top tandem and 10th-ranked duo in the country, Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur, fell in a 0-2 hole to No. 16 Ben Wagland and Peter Oosterbaan on court one. The team's traded points, but it was the Dogs that coupled the last two together to take a 6-4 win.
Winston Lin and Mike Vermeer were battling on the second court. After jumping out to a 3-1 lead over Georgia's Eric Diaz and Austin Smith, the 34th team in the ITA knotted the match at 3-all before taking a 3-5 lead. Lin and Vermeer climbed back and tied things up at 6-all to force a tiebreaker, but the Lions could not complete the comeback as they fell in the tiebreak .
Momentum shifted on the singles court as Shawn Hadavi cruised past Diaz in the sixth position, 6-3, 6-1, to put Columbia on the board. Ignat continued the winning ways for the Lions as the junior upset No. 11 Austin Smith, 7-6, 6-4.
The Lions did not continue their run, however, as Lin, who ranks 22nd in the ITA, fell to the racquet of No. 15 Pasha, 7-5, 6-1, and Schnur dropped a 6-4, 7-6 decision to Wood, who ranks 101 in the nation.
On courts four and five Columbia went the distance with Georgia. Vermeer dropped the first set to Oosterbban, 4-6, before taking the second, 7-5. The 124th-ranked junior dropped set three, 7-5. Similar to Vermeer, Eric Rubin fell behind 1-0 after a 7-5 defeat in the first set to Wagland. Rubin leveled the match with a 6-4 second set victory, but dropped the deciding set, 3-6.
In the final match of the day, Miguel Alda ended things on a high night as he defeated Peter Bertran, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6).
Columbia continues play at the MLK Invitational tomorrow when it takes the courts against the hosts, No. 75 Georgia Tech at 2 p.m. The Lions will close out competition this weekend on Monday, Jan. 19 with a 9 a.m. contest versus No. 2 Oklahoma.
Results
Doubles
No. 10 Max Schnur/Ashok Narayana lost to No. 16 Ben Wagland/Peter Oosterbaan, 4-6
Winston Lin/Mike Vermeer lost to No. 34 Eric Diaz/Austin Smith, 6-7
Dragos Ignat/Richard Pham lost to Nathan Pasha/Nick Wood, 2-6
Singles
No. 22 Winston Lin lost to No. 15 Nathan Pasha 5-7, 1-6
Dragos Ignat defeated No. 11 Austin Smith, 7-6, 6-4
Max Schnur lost No. 101 Nick Wood 4-6, 6-7
No. 124 Mike Vermeer lost to Paul Oosterbaan, 4-6, 7-5, 5-7
Eric Rubin lost to Ben Wagland, 5-7, 6-4, 3-6
Shawn Hadavi defeated Eric Diaz, 6-3, 6-1
Miguel Alda defeated Peter Bertran 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6)
Players Mentioned
