Sunday, February 9
New York, N.Y.
5:00 P.M.
Columbia University
4
vs
3
Yale
Photo by: Columbia University Athletics
Lions Win ECAC Title With 4-3 Win Over Yale
2/9/2020 10:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Columbia wins second consecutive ECAC Indoor Championship and fourth ECAC title in school history; first-year Shivani Amineni breaks 3-3 tie with a dramatic victory at No. 5 singles.
NEW YORK—Columbia claimed its second consecutive Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Championship as first-year Shivani Amineni broke a 3-3 tie with a dramatic comeback win in securing a 4-3 Lions victory over Yale Sunday at Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
The title marked Columbia's fourth ECAC Indoor Championship since 2014 as the Lions, under Head Coach Ilene Weintraub, have claimed four titles in seven seasons: 2014, 2016, 2019 and now 2020. Columbia has also won the ECAC Championship in each of the last two years that it has hosted the event (2014 and 2020).
"We've been talking as a team for the last couple of weeks since we played in the ITA Kickoff about stepping up and staying on offense when you're up in the score and being the bigger ball-striker, and also having positive body language," Weintraub said. "All of those things came into play today. I'm very proud of Shivani, being a first-year, that she was able to have this huge moment for the program."
Amineni's dramatic 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Yale's Raissa Lou came No. 5 singles. In the second set, she forced a tiebreaker and came away with a comeback win. Then in a back-and-forth third set, she found herself down 4-3 without the serve. But she rallied for three straight points and evened the score at 4-4. With the serve and the score at 40-40, Amineni hit a shot that was ruled in and she had a 5-4 advantage. Lou's final shot of the match ended up in the net and Amineni's teammates rushed the court and mobbed her in a wild celebration.
The three-hour and 17-minute match featured a back-and-forth battle on all six courts. Yale went up 1-0 with back-to-back doubles wins at No. 1 and No. 3. The nation's No. 3 ranked and ITA Indoor National Champion doubles team of Samantha Martinelli and Jessie Gong registered a 6-1 win over Columbia junior Paulina Ferrari and sophomore Akanksha Bhan. Yale's Caroline Dunleavy and Rhea Shivastava followed with a 6-3 victory over junior Jennifer Kerr and first-year Shivani Amineni at No. 3 doubles to give the Bulldogs the point and 1-0 lead.
It proved to be a deficit that the Lions chased most of the evening. Singles began in Columbia's favor as the Lions claimed the first set in four of the six matches. But Yale would battle back.
Columbia's Sakar evened the score at 1-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Yale's Caroline Dunleavy at No. 3 singles. Yale then took the lead back at 2-1 when Chelsea Kung won a hard-fought match over Kerr at No. 2 singles.
Columbia first-year Julia Haynes then forced a 2-2 tie as she registered a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win at No. 6 singles over Yale's Rhea Shrivastava. Haynes battled back from a 4-0 deficit in the second set to force a tiebreaker.
Then Columbia sophomore Akanksha Bhan rallied from behind to win a closely-contested 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 match over the nation's No. 44 ranked Samantha Martinelli. The nation's No. 116 ranked Bhan found herself down 4-2 in the third set and came back to win. The victory gave Columbia a 3-2 lead with two matches still in progress.
"Akanksha played a very experienced, tough competitor today in Samantha Martinelli," Weintraub said. "She was down 4-2 in the third set. We talked about her just focusing on her footwork, being more proactive mentally and it worked."
Yale's Rena Lin made it 3-3 with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Columbia first-year Michelle Xu. With the score deadlocked at 3-3, the crowd migrated to Amineni's court, where the first-year battled her into a dramatic victory.
"It's so special that we had this moment and this win today," Weintraub said. "We have to keep working hard now; we can't get complacent. We still have a lot of things we need to get better at so we can be ready for the Ivy League season."
With the victory, the Lions improve to 6-2 overall in dual matches, while Yale drops to 4-2 on the season.
Columbia hosted the ECAC Championship for the first time in six years. The ECAC Championship event ran Friday through Sunday and featured 12 matches over the three-day weekend. The teams played through a bracketed tournament featuring eight teams with championship and consolation brackets. Each team played three matches. Along with host Columbia, the field comprises of seven Ivy League teams including Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, and Yale, along with Massachusetts. A complete list of results is posted below.
Columbia defeated Brown 4-0 in Friday's First Round and advanced to the title game with a 4-1 win over Harvard on Saturday.
The Lions entered the weekend as the defending ECAC champions as they claimed the 2019 title with consecutive victories on three straight days over Yale (4-2), Penn (4-2) and Princeton (4-1).
2020 ECAC WOMEN'S INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Feb. 7-9, 2020 | Dick Savitt Tennis Center | New York, N.Y.
Friday, February 7
Match 1: No. 1 seed Harvard 4, No. 8 seed Cornell 1
Match 2: No. 4 seed Columbia 4, No. 5 seed Brown 0
Match 3: No. 3 seed Yale 4, No. 6 Massachusetts 0
Match 4: No. 2 seed Penn 4, No. 7 Dartmouth 1
Saturday, February 8
Match 5: Brown 4, Cornell 0
Match 6: Dartmouth 4, Massachusetts 0
Match 7: Columbia 4, Harvard 1
March 8: Yale 4, Penn 1
Sunday, February 9
Match 9: Cornell 4, Massachusetts 0
Match 10: Dartmouth 4, Brown 1
Match 11: Harvard 4, Penn 1 (Harvard claims third place)
March 12: Championship: Columbia 4, Yale 3 (Columbia, 1st place; Yale, 2nd place)
All matches played at Columbia's Dick Savitt Tennis Center
The title marked Columbia's fourth ECAC Indoor Championship since 2014 as the Lions, under Head Coach Ilene Weintraub, have claimed four titles in seven seasons: 2014, 2016, 2019 and now 2020. Columbia has also won the ECAC Championship in each of the last two years that it has hosted the event (2014 and 2020).
"We've been talking as a team for the last couple of weeks since we played in the ITA Kickoff about stepping up and staying on offense when you're up in the score and being the bigger ball-striker, and also having positive body language," Weintraub said. "All of those things came into play today. I'm very proud of Shivani, being a first-year, that she was able to have this huge moment for the program."
Amineni's dramatic 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Yale's Raissa Lou came No. 5 singles. In the second set, she forced a tiebreaker and came away with a comeback win. Then in a back-and-forth third set, she found herself down 4-3 without the serve. But she rallied for three straight points and evened the score at 4-4. With the serve and the score at 40-40, Amineni hit a shot that was ruled in and she had a 5-4 advantage. Lou's final shot of the match ended up in the net and Amineni's teammates rushed the court and mobbed her in a wild celebration.
The three-hour and 17-minute match featured a back-and-forth battle on all six courts. Yale went up 1-0 with back-to-back doubles wins at No. 1 and No. 3. The nation's No. 3 ranked and ITA Indoor National Champion doubles team of Samantha Martinelli and Jessie Gong registered a 6-1 win over Columbia junior Paulina Ferrari and sophomore Akanksha Bhan. Yale's Caroline Dunleavy and Rhea Shivastava followed with a 6-3 victory over junior Jennifer Kerr and first-year Shivani Amineni at No. 3 doubles to give the Bulldogs the point and 1-0 lead.
It proved to be a deficit that the Lions chased most of the evening. Singles began in Columbia's favor as the Lions claimed the first set in four of the six matches. But Yale would battle back.
Columbia's Sakar evened the score at 1-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Yale's Caroline Dunleavy at No. 3 singles. Yale then took the lead back at 2-1 when Chelsea Kung won a hard-fought match over Kerr at No. 2 singles.
Columbia first-year Julia Haynes then forced a 2-2 tie as she registered a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win at No. 6 singles over Yale's Rhea Shrivastava. Haynes battled back from a 4-0 deficit in the second set to force a tiebreaker.
Then Columbia sophomore Akanksha Bhan rallied from behind to win a closely-contested 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 match over the nation's No. 44 ranked Samantha Martinelli. The nation's No. 116 ranked Bhan found herself down 4-2 in the third set and came back to win. The victory gave Columbia a 3-2 lead with two matches still in progress.
"Akanksha played a very experienced, tough competitor today in Samantha Martinelli," Weintraub said. "She was down 4-2 in the third set. We talked about her just focusing on her footwork, being more proactive mentally and it worked."
Yale's Rena Lin made it 3-3 with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Columbia first-year Michelle Xu. With the score deadlocked at 3-3, the crowd migrated to Amineni's court, where the first-year battled her into a dramatic victory.
"It's so special that we had this moment and this win today," Weintraub said. "We have to keep working hard now; we can't get complacent. We still have a lot of things we need to get better at so we can be ready for the Ivy League season."
With the victory, the Lions improve to 6-2 overall in dual matches, while Yale drops to 4-2 on the season.
Columbia hosted the ECAC Championship for the first time in six years. The ECAC Championship event ran Friday through Sunday and featured 12 matches over the three-day weekend. The teams played through a bracketed tournament featuring eight teams with championship and consolation brackets. Each team played three matches. Along with host Columbia, the field comprises of seven Ivy League teams including Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, and Yale, along with Massachusetts. A complete list of results is posted below.
Columbia defeated Brown 4-0 in Friday's First Round and advanced to the title game with a 4-1 win over Harvard on Saturday.
The Lions entered the weekend as the defending ECAC champions as they claimed the 2019 title with consecutive victories on three straight days over Yale (4-2), Penn (4-2) and Princeton (4-1).
2020 ECAC WOMEN'S INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Feb. 7-9, 2020 | Dick Savitt Tennis Center | New York, N.Y.
Friday, February 7
Match 1: No. 1 seed Harvard 4, No. 8 seed Cornell 1
Match 2: No. 4 seed Columbia 4, No. 5 seed Brown 0
Match 3: No. 3 seed Yale 4, No. 6 Massachusetts 0
Match 4: No. 2 seed Penn 4, No. 7 Dartmouth 1
Saturday, February 8
Match 5: Brown 4, Cornell 0
Match 6: Dartmouth 4, Massachusetts 0
Match 7: Columbia 4, Harvard 1
March 8: Yale 4, Penn 1
Sunday, February 9
Match 9: Cornell 4, Massachusetts 0
Match 10: Dartmouth 4, Brown 1
Match 11: Harvard 4, Penn 1 (Harvard claims third place)
March 12: Championship: Columbia 4, Yale 3 (Columbia, 1st place; Yale, 2nd place)
All matches played at Columbia's Dick Savitt Tennis Center
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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