Lions Open Season With Wins Over LIU, Sacred Heart

Sunday, January 19

New York, N.Y.

11:30 AM

Columbia University

LIU

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Maryam K. Hassan

Lions Open Season With Wins Over LIU, Sacred Heart

1/19/2020 6:01:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Columbia 6, LIU 1 (Results)Columbia 7, Sacred Heart 0 (Results)Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

Columbia defeats LIU 6-1 and sweeps Sacred Heart 7-0 in spring season openers on Sunday.

NEW YORK—The Columbia women's tennis team opened its 2020 dual match season with back-to-back doubleheader wins over LIU (6-1) and Sacred Heart (7-0) Sunday afternoon at Dick Savitt Tennis Center. With the two wins, Columbia begins its season with a perfect 2-0 record. LIU drops to 0-1 on the year and Sacred Heart is now 2-4 overall in dual matches.

Following are recaps from Sunday's doubleheader action:

COLUMBIA 6, LIU 1

Columbia started off by taking a 1-0 lead after claiming the doubles point against LIU. After LIU's Valentina Dancenco and Sofiya Kuzina won a 6-2 victory over Columbia's Akanksha Bhan and Paulina Ferrari at No. 1 doubles and the Lions countered with a 6-2 win at No. 3 when Michelle Xu and Julia Haynes defeated LIU's Victoria Erchtchenko and Phoebe Watton, Columbia's Melissa Sakar and Christie Wan registered a come-from-behind 7-6 (7-5) victory at No. 2 over LIU's Elinor Storkaas and Bianca Compuesto.

In singles, the Lions jumped out to a sizable lead in the early-going as the Lions claimed the first sets in five of the six matches.

Junior Jennifer Kerr got off to a fast start in defeating LIU's Sofiya Kuzina 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. No. 65 ranked Akanksha Bhan made it 3-0 Columbia with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles. First-year Julia Haynes clinched the dual match win with the Lions' fourth victory, a 6-0, 6-1 win over LIU's Kate Jorjolian. Sophomore Melissa Sakar made it 5-0 Lions with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 3 over Elinor Storkaas.

First-year Shivani Amineni made it 6-0 Columbia with a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles over LIU's Victoria Erechtchenko. LIU's Bianca Compuesto ended Columbia's shutout attempt with a 7-6, 6-4 win over junior Christie Wan at No. 4 singles.

COLUMBIA 7, SACRED HEART 0

Columbia dominated from the start, winning all three doubles matches in 30 minutes. Paulina Ferrari and Michelle Xu won a 6-0 decision at No. 3 over Sacred Heart's Maggie Glynn and Morgan Voulo, the Lions earned a point after a default win at No. 2 doubles, and the Indian duo of Akanksha Bhan and Shivani Amineni registered a 6-3 victory at No. 1 doubles over Adriane Alfonso and Brianne Lauria.

The superb play continued as the Lions won every set during the match. Junior Sarah Rahman won at No. 6 singles by default. First-year Sophie Raiszadeh claimed a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles over Morgan Voulo. Sophomore Caitie Sullivan clinched the victory for Columbia with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 4 over Maggie Glynn. Jennifer Kerr followed with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Adrianne Alfonso at No. 1, first-year Michelle Xu took a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Brianne Lauria at No. 2, then first-year Julia Haynes finished the sweep with a 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles.

Columbia is back in action next weekend when it travels to Chapel Hill, N.C. to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Lions take on Old Dominion on Friday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. ET at the University of North Carolina. On Saturday, Jan. 25 the Lions will face either No. 2 ranked North Carolina or Auburn.