Yale, No. 61 Brown Come to the Big Apple for Matches vs. No. 22 Men's Tennis
4/9/2015 10:25:00 AM | Men's Tennis
| vs. Yale (11-7, 1-1 Ivy League) | vs. No. 61 Brown (15-3, 1-1 Ivy League) | ||
| Date Venue Social Hashtags Match Notes |
Saturday, April 11 Dick Savitt Tennis Center @GoColumbiaLions | @ColumbiaMTennis #TurnItBlue Columbia Notes |
Sunday, April 12 Dick Savitt Tennis Center @GoColumbiaLions | @ColumbiaMTennis #TurnItBlue Columbia Notes |
NEW YORK – After posting a 3-0 record through two weekends of Ivy League play, the No. 22 Columbia men's tennis team welcomes Yale and No. 61 Brown to the Dick Savitt Tennis Center this weekend. The Bulldogs come to New York City Saturday, April 11, before the Bears stop by Sunday, April 12. Both conference matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
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LOWDOWN ON THE NO. 22 LIONS (10-5, 3-0 IVY LEAGUE)
Columbia is eyeing its second straight Ivy League title as it sits 3-0 in conference play and 10-5 overall. The Lions, who have faced eight top-25 opponents this season, moved up to 22nd in the ITA polls and are currently tied for first with Princeton in the league standings.
Mike Vermeer paces the team with a 9-0 mark in the lower half of the Lions singles lineup, while Winston Lin, who ranks 21st in the nation, boasts an 9-5 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 9-3 record at the first and second slots. Ashok Narayana and Dragos Ignat boast an unbeaten 4-0 ledger all in the second slot, while Bert Vancura and Max Schnur are 3-0 at No. 3. Columbia has picked up the doubles point in 10 outings this season.
| WHERE WE STAND | IVY LEAGUE | OVERALL | |||||||||||||
| PLACE 1. 1. 3. 3. 3. 6. 7. 7. |
SCHOOL Princeton Columbia Brown Harvard Yale Cornell Dartmouth Penn |
|
W 3 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 |
L 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 3 |
PCT. 1.000 1.000 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.333 0.000 0.000 |
W 18 10 15 15 11 9 9 14 |
L 4 5 3 6 7 7 10 6 |
PCT. 0.818 0.667 0.833 0.714 0.611 0.563 0.474 0.700 |
|||||||
SCOUTING YALE (11-7, 1-1 IVY LEAGUE)
Through 17 dual matches this season, the Bulldogs are 11-7, and split its Ivy League matches. A 5-2 win over Penn started the Ivy slate off right for Yale, but a 6-1 setback to Princeton pushed the Bulldogs conference record to 1-1.
Tyler Lu returns as one of Yale's top singles threats, while Martin Svenning has collected wins towards the top of the singles lineup as well. Rookies Stefan Doehler and Martin Svenning have proved to be welcome additions to the Bulldogs singles contingent. The first-year tandem of Fedor Andrienko and Doehler has combined to form Yale's top doubles team this season.
SCOUTING NO. 61 BROWN (15-3, 1-1 IVY LEAGUE)
The Bears are having a strong season through 18 matches, boasting a 15-3 overall record, a 1-1 Ivy mark and a No. 61 ranking in the latest ITA poll. After a 6-1 loss to Princeton in its Ivy League opener, Brown rebounded with a 5-2 win over Penn last weekend.
Justin To holds the top singles position for the Bears and Gregory Garcia ad Brandon Yeoh round out the upper half of Brown's singles lineup. Yeoh and To, who rank 61 in the country, make-up the Bears top doubles team.
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. 22 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 April 7, Columbia singles players, Winston Lin ranks 21st in the ITA followed by Dragos Ignat at 101st. In doubles, Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana rank 31st in the country, while Mike Vermeer is on the 62nd and 66th doubles teams with Winston Lin and Richard Pham, respectively.
| DATE Jan. 6 Jan. 20 Jan. 28 Feb. 3 Feb. 17 Feb. 24 March 3 March 10 March 17 March 24 March 31 April 7 |
Rank 16 16 13 15 11 13 15 23 29 26 28 22 |
RELATED LINK: ITA RANKINGS
JUST KEEP WINNING…
With a 3-0 start to Ancient Eight action this season, the Lions pushed their Ivy League win streak to 14 matches dating back to April 3, 2013. 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. This season, the junior sits 3-0 against league opponents and is 8-0 overall in dual play.
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 Columbia men's tennis team's Ivy League ledger remained perfect Sunday afternoon as the 28th-ranked Lions took down No. 36 Harvard, 5-2, at the Murr Tennis Center.
Now 3-0 in Ancient Eight action this season, Columbia has won 14 straight contests against the Ivies dating back to 2013.
The guests got off to a bit of a shaky start in doubles action, but managed to right the ship on the second and third courts en route to a third consecutive doubles point and 10th this season. Columbia, who won the first set on each of the six courts, took the first two flights to take a 3-0 lead.
Shawn Hadavi halted Harvard's Brian Yeung's 10-match singles win streak with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, triumph on court fourt o put the match away for the Lions.
MORE READING: No. 28 Men's Tennis Remains Perfect in Ivy League with 5-2 Win at No. 36 Harvard
UP NEXT
Columbia hits the road for its final road test of the season at Princeton Friday, April 17, before entertaining Penn in its regular season finale Sunday, April 19.
