No. 28 Men's Tennis Heads to No. 50 Dartmouth, No. 36 Harvard
4/1/2015 11:12:00 AM | Men's Tennis
| at No. 50 Dartmouth (9-8, 0-0) | at No. 36 Harvard (14-5, 0-0) | ||
| Date Venue Social Hashtags Match Notes Video |
Saturday, April 4 Boss Tennis Center @GoColumbiaLions | @ColumbiaMTennis #TurnItBlue Columbia Notes |
Sunday, April 5 Murr Tennis Center @GoColumbiaLions | @ColumbiaMTennis #TurnItBlue Columbia Notes Ivy League Digital Network |
NEW YORK – After opening its Ivy League slate in winning fashion, the No. 28 Columbia men's tennis team heads on the road for its first Ancient Eight road test of the season this weekend. The Lions will head to No. 50 Dartmouth, Saturday, April 4, before visiting No. 36 Harvard, Sunday, April 5. Both conference matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. The match in Cambridge will be streamed live on The Ivy League Digital Network.
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LOWDOWN ON THE NO. 28 LIONS (8-5, 1-0 IVY LEAGUE)
Columbia is eyeing its second straight Ivy League title as it commences with league play, but will have to face one of the most talented Ancient Eight fields in recent history to do so.
The Lions handed Cornell its first loss of the season, 6-1, in New York, to begin Ivy League play March 28. Columbia, who has faced eight top-25 opponents this season, sits 8-5 overall, 1-0 in conference action and ranks No. 28 in the polls.
Mike Vermeer paces the team with a 7-0 mark in the lower half of the Lions singles lineup, while Winston Lin, who ranks 21st in the nation, boasts an 8-4 ledger against some of the best racquets in the country.
In doubles action, Lin and Vermeer, ranked No. 50 in the polls, team up for a team-best 9-1 record at the first and second slots. Columbia has picked up the doubles point in eight outings this season.
| WHERE WE STAND | IVY LEAGUE | OVERALL | |||||||||||||
| PLACE 1. 1. 3. 3. 3. 3. 7. 7. |
SCHOOL Princeton Columbia Brown Harvard Yale Dartmouth Penn Cornell |
|
W 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
L 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 |
PCT. 1.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 |
W 16 8 14 14 10 9 14 8 |
L 4 5 2 5 6 8 4 6 |
PCT. 0.800 0.615 0.875 0.737 0.625 0.529 0.778 0.571 |
|||||||
SCOUTING NO. 50 DARTMOUTH (9-8, 0-0 IVY LEAGUE)
The Big Green return home following seven matches away from Hanover where Dartmouth won the first two and dropped four of the last five, including back-to-back defeats, to enter play Saturday.
The pairing of Chris Kiopouras and Dovydas Sakinis, who rank 21st in the country, has led to a resurgence in doubles play, as Dartmouth has won the doubles points in nine of 17 contests on the year. Kiopouras and Sakinis have totaled a 10-3 mark, all at top position, which has been a pivotal part of the Big Green going 8-1 when earning the doubles point.
In singles play, No. 86 Sakinis paces Dartmouth with an 11-5 dual play record at No. 1.
SCOUTING NO. 36 HARVARD (14-5, 0-0 IVY LEAGUE)
The Crimson has been solid this year with a 14-5 overall record heading into the weekend. Harvard swept its final nonleague day, taking down Buffalo, 6-1, and Amherst, 7-0, to a ride a two-match win streak into conference play.
Brian Yeung is the hottest player in Harvard's lineup, having gone 9-0 in the last 10 outings. Dennis Nguyen is second on the team with an 8-5 dual play record. Nguyen and Yeung have seen the majority of action as the top doubles team for the Crimson, posting a 10-4 dual record together.
ZEROING IN
Columbia swept Binghamton and Monmouth in its Feb. 21 and Feb. 27 to post back-to-back sweeps for the first time this season and first time since blanking Penn and Princeton in straight contests last season to capture the Ivy League Championship. A year ago, the Lions notched 13 clean sheets.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
For the past decade Columbia has put on a show for its home crowd posting a 62-7 record at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center including five undefeated home seasons. Currently, the Lions ride a 20-match win streak under the roof of the tennis center, dating back to Feb. 1, 2013. This season Columbia is on the road to its sixth unbeaten mark as it sits 4-0 in the friendly confines of the tennis center.
IN THE RANKINGS
Columbia sits at No. 26 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Poll this week after rising as high as No. 11 Feb. 17, its highest ranking in program history. The Lions are the highest of seven Ivy League teams in the rankings.
As of March 24, Columbia singles players, Winston Lin ranks 21st in the ITA followed by Dragos Ignat at 105th. In doubles, Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana rank 26th in the country, while Mike Vermeer is on the 46th and 50th doubles teams with Richard Pham and Winston Lin, respectively.
| DATE Jan. 6 Jan. 20 Jan. 28 Feb. 3 Feb. 17 Feb. 24 March 3 March 10 March 17 March 24 March 31 |
Rank 16 16 13 15 11 13 15 23 29 26 28 |
RELATED LINK: ITA RANKINGS
JUST KEEP WINNING…
With a 6-1 win over Cornell March 28, the Lions pushed their Ivy League win streak to 12 matches dating back to April 3, 2015. Last season Columbia downed all seven of its Ancient Eight opponents en route to hoisting the Ivy League Championship trophy.
VERMEER VICTORIOUS
Through two seasons in Columbia blue, Mike Vermeer has gone unbeaten on the singles court against Ivy League competition. The junior went 5-0 a year ago against league opponents and opened this year's Ancient Eight slate with a victory against the Big Red to keep his conference record perfect and move it to 6-0.
REWRITING HISTORY
Just about a month into the season, the Lions have already rewritten the program's history books. Here are a few highlights of what Columbia has already accomplished in 2014-15:
· Won ITA Kick-Off Weekend for the first time since appearing in the event seven years ago.
· Earned the first bid to ITA National Team Indoors for the first time in 20 years.
· Defeated the highest ranked opponent in then-No. 14 Notre Dame, 4-3, in the ITA Kick-Off Championship Jan. 25.
· Upstaged its defeat of then 14th-ranked Fighting Irish, with a 4-3 victory over then-No. 12 Cal in the back draw of ITA National Team Indoors Feb. 14.
· Earned the program's highest ITA Ranking at No. 11.
LAST TIME OUT
The No. 26 men's tennis team opened its Ivy League scheduled Saturday afternoon at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center with a convincing 6-1 victory over No. 46 Cornell.
For the fourth straight season the Lions met the Big Red in their Ancient Eight opener and for the fourth consecutive meeting Columbia has come out victorious. The win pushes the Lions Ivy win streak to 12-straight matches dating back to April 13, 2012.
Columbia wasted no time winning its eighth doubles point of the season, holding off the Big Red in just 39 minutes. The Lions' top tandem of Winston Lin and Mike Vermeer, who rank 50th in the country, trailed Bernardo Casares Rosa and Chris Vrabel, 4-1. Columbia's senior-junior partnership not only came back, but rattled off five consecutive points to storm past Casares and Vrabel, 6-4. Finishing just seconds later by an identical score was Ashok Narayana and Dragos Ignat, who edged Sam Fleck and Colin Sinclair on the second court.
The Lions did not lose momentum in singles as it took five of the six courts, including four in straight sets.
MORE READING: No. 26 Men's Tennis Storms Past No. 46 Cornell, 6-1, in Ivy League Opener
UP NEXT
Columbia returns to the Big Apple for matches versus Yale and Brown. The Lions host the Bulldogs Saturday, April 11, before entertaining the Bears Sunday, April 12. Both Ivy League matches will begin at 1 p.m.
