Women's Tennis Takes on FIU on Saturday

Saturday, February 2

New York, N.Y./Dick Savitt Tennis Center

1:00 PM

Columbia

FIU

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

1/29/2019 3:19:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Match Program (PDF)Follow Live Action 2018-19 Schedule

First serve is at 1 p.m. ET; all six courts will be broadcast live on ESPN+; Lions enter match with 1-1 record following 7-0 shutout of Rhode Island.

NEW YORK—The Columbia women's tennis team hosts Florida International on Saturday at Dick Savitt Tennis Center. First serve is at 1 p.m. ET.

The contest will be streamed live on ESPN+ and can be followed on twitter at this link. Court assignments and lineups will be announced on twitter as they become available prior to doubles and singles play. Each court will have its own separate watch link on ESPN+. Please see chart below to watch the corresponding singles or doubles match.

ESPN+ WATCH LINKS

ESPN+ Watch Link	Match(es)
Court One	No. 5 singles
Court Two	No. 3 singles
Court Three	No. 1 doubles, 1 singles
Court Four	No. 2 doubles, 2 singles
Court Five	No. 3 doubles, 4 singles
Court Six	No. 6 singles

Columbia (1-1) gets back into action after it defeated Rhode Island 7-0 in its home opener and dropped a close 5-2 loss to No. 24 Syracuse on Jan. 20. Columbia takes on FIU for the fourth straight season after suffering back-to-back losses. The Lions are 4-5 all-time vs. the Panthers with their last win coming in 2016.

Last year, youthful Columbia accumulated a 12-8 overall and 4-3 Ivy League record. Nine experienced Lions return to the squad including two players who earned All-Ivy League honors in 2018: sophomore Christie Wan (Second Team Singles and Second Team Doubles) and sophomore Jennifer Kerr (Second Team Singles). Wan played primarily at the No. 1 singles position and No. 1 doubles position and finished 9-20 in singles last year. Kerr played at No. 2 singles and accumulated a 21-9 record and team-best 6-1 Ivy League slate. She also garnered 2018 ITA Northeast Region Player to Watch honors.

Also returning the Lions include senior Andrea Kevakian, who has accumulated a 60-26 singles and 42-33 career doubles record. Kevakian led the Lions with a 23-7 singles record last year. Senior Sarah Hu has seen significant action with a 34-30 career singles and 23-24 career doubles, while junior Ali Pollack has gone 34-21 in singles and 17-30 in doubles. Also playing keys roles are sophomore Paulina Ferrari, who was injured during the majority of the 2017-18 season, junior Renee Ren, sophomore Sarah Rahman and junior Brianna Williams.

Those players, along with tennisrecruiting.net's No. 12 ranked recruiting class make up the 2018-19 Lions.

COLUMBIA MATCH NOTES

*Columbia (1-1) plays its second home match of the 2019 spring season at Dick Savitt Tennis Center when it hosts Florida International on Saturday at 1 p.m.

*Columbia is off to a successful dual match start as it dropped a close 5-2 match at No. 24 Syracuse and shut out Rhode Island 7-0 in its home opener last Friday. The Lions had a chance to defeat Syracuse as two matches were decided at match point.

*Three Columbia players have won 10 singles matches apiece: Yekaterina Alferova (10-6), Akanksha Bhan (10-3) and Jennifer Kerr (10-7). Those three are followed by Melissa Sakar (9-4), Christie Wan (9-4), Sarah Hu (8-4) and Renee Ren (8-1). In doubles, Wan and Andrea Kevakian are 9-4, Bhan and Paulina Ferrari are 9-2 and Kerr and Hu have teamed for a 7-2 record.

*Florida International opens its spring season this weekend by playing two matches in the New York City area. The Panthers play the Lions on Saturday before traveling to Seton Hall on Sunday. Columbia lost 4-2 at FIU last year.

*According to tennisrecruiting.net, Columbia welcomed the nation's No. 12 ranked incoming 2018 recruiting class in September. The four newcomers include first-years Melissa Sakar, Akanksha Bhan, Yekaterina Alferova and Caitie Sullivan. All four were ranked among the nation's top-100 players in the 2018 tennisrecruiting.net class: Sakar (No. 18), Bhan (No. 28), Alferova (No. 35) and Sullivan (No. 75).

*Head Coach Ilene Weintraub, CC '02 is in her 12th season at the helm of the Columbia women's tennis program. The winningest coach in school history with 111 dual match victories, Weintraub guided the Lions to their first Ivy League Championship in 2013, led the program to a top-40 national ranking in 2016, captured two ECAC Championships (2014 and 2016) and has recruited three national top-15 recruiting classes (No. 6 in 2015, No. 10 in 2017 and No. 12 in 2018) and four national top-20 recruiting classes in the last five years to Columbia. She was named the ITA Northeast Region Coach of the Year in both 2014 and 2016. Weintraub is joined by first-year assistant coach AJ Nelson and volunteer assistant coach Carlos Carrera.