Men's Tennis Heads to Tennessee for Two Matches
2/25/2016 3:10:00 PM | Men's Tennis
NEW YORK - The No. 23 Columbia men's tennis team will battle two opponents from the Volunteer State this weekend when they travel on Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, followed by a Sunday match at Vanderbilt.
The Lions (6-3) are coming off of a 4-0 win against New Mexico and 7-0 win against No. 45 Minnesota last weekend at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
The 2016 season has produced four shutout victories for the Lions, with two against Minnesota, and one each against Navy and New Mexico. Aided by these wins, the doubles pair of Shawn Hadavi and Richard Pham bumped up to the No. 10 in the latest ITA Rankings, ascending from the No. 15 position. Against the No. 9 ranked doubles team of Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen from New Mexico, the Columbia pair were able to earn a 6-2 victory, their fifth over a ranked opponent this season.
Despite not losing a match this past week, the doubles pair of Mike Vermeer and Michal Rolski slid in the ranking from No. 20 to No. 33 this week. The No. 2 doubles team for Columbia is 5-2 this season.
In singles play, Hadavi has soared from being unranked all season to the No. 54 spot in this past weeks ITA Rankings. The spring has been a coming out party for the junior, who is 6-2 in the No. 1 singles spot. During the ITA Indoor Team National Championship, Hadavi knocked off No. 8 Arthur Rinderknech from Texas A&M and No. 22 Wayne Montgomery from Georgia. His two losses this season have come against two of the top players in the country, Stanford's Tom Fawcett, who was ranked No. 9 at the time, and Baylor's Julien Lenz, who was No. 19 at the time.
About the Blue Raiders (9-2) - Saturday, 1 PM
No. 50 Middle Tennessee State is in the midst of a seven-match win streak, holding an overall season record of 9-2. Last weekend during a pair of home matches, the Blue Raiders defeated Illinois State 4-3 on Saturday, February 20, before posting a 7-0 victory against Sewanee University the following day.
Dima Zyhmantovich leads the way in the No. 1 singles spot for MTSU, boasting a 6-3 record. In doubles play, the team of Gonzalo Morell and Ayed Zatar Cordero is 7-2 in the top spot.
About the Commodores (5-4) - Sunday, 12 PM
No. 45 Vanderbilt fell from the No. 32 spot during the previous rankings after a 4-3 loss on February 21 to the now ranked No. 15 Northwestern. The Commodores won the doubles point, but failed to match up in the singles competition, falling 4-3. Vandy will have a doubleheader this Saturday, with the noon match with the Lions followed by a 4 pm match against Sewanee University.
Daniel Valent is the lone ranked singles player for the Commodores at No. 64. Valent is 6-1 this spring, and has topped three ranked opponents, including No. 17 Nicholas Alvarez of Duke.
After the Tennessee Trip
The Lions will head to Michigan to face the Wolverines on Saturday, March 12, followed by a trip to the Lone Star State to battle Texas, SMU and TCU.
