Lions Open Spring Season With Wins Over LIU, Sacred Heart

Sunday, January 23

Harrison, N.Y./LifeTime Westchester

1:00 P.M.

Columbia University

LIU

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics

Lions Open Spring Season With Wins Over LIU, Sacred Heart

1/23/2022 9:20:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Boxscore: Columbia 6, LIU 1 Boxscore: Columbia 7, Sacred Heart 0

Columbia opens spring season with 2-0 record after defeating LIU 6-1 and Sacred Heart 7-0 to start the 2021-22 spring season.

WEST HARRISON, N.Y.—The Columbia women's tennis team opened its 2022 dual match season with back-to-back doubleheader wins over Northeast Conference opponents LIU (6-1) and Sacred Heart (7-0) Sunday afternoon at LifeTime Westchester. With the two wins, Columbia begins its season with an undefeated 2-0 record. LIU drops to 0-1 on the year and Sacred Heart is now 2-3 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. The Lions' Rachele Rimondini and Melissa Sakar teamed for a 6-0 shutout win over LIU's Jasmine Maduel and Bianca Compuesta at No. 3 doubles. LIU's Einor Storkaas and Victoria Erechtchenko defeated Columbia's Akanksha Bhan and Anna Zhang 6-3 at No. 1 doubles to even the score. But Columbia's Clarine Lerby and Sophia Strugnell battled back to claim a hard-fought 7-5 victory at No. 2 over LIU's Sofiya Kuzina and Valentina Dancenzo for the doubles point and 1-0 lead.

In singles, the Lions won five consecutive matches to take their first team dual match win of the season. Michelle Xu won a 6-0, 6-0 decision over LIU's Phoebe Watton at the No. 6 position, Anna Zhang quickly followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Compuesta at No. 2, and Melissa Sakar clinches the victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win over LIU's Dancenzo at No. 3. Rimondini then won a 6-2, 6-4 decision over LIU's Kuzina at No. 4 singles for a 5-0 lead and Bhan took a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles over Erechtchenko. Down 6-0, LIU's Elinor Storkaas registered a hard fought 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over Columbia's Clarine Lerby.

COLUMBIA 7, SACRED HEART 0

Columbia improved to 2-0 on the young season with a x-x win over Sacred Heart in the second half of the doubleheader.
Once again, Columbia notched the doubles point as Melissa Sakar and Rachele Rimondini started the Lions off with a 6-0 victory at No. 2 doubles over Sacred Heart's Aina Garriga and Kim Fenton. Akanksha Bhan and Anna Zhang followed with a 6-3 win over Sacred Heart's Kate Starastsenka and Ciara O'Toole at No. 1 doubles.

Sophia Strugnell started Columbia's singles off right with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 5 over Sacred Heart's Flavia Rambaldi. It was the first of six straight singles wins as Melissa Sakar claimed a 6-0, 6-3 win over SHU's Kate Starastsenka at No. 1, and Anna Zhang clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 2 over SHU's Ciara O'Toole. Rimondini made it 5-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win against Aina Garriga, Michelle Xu defeated Vitalina Golod 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4 and Caitie Sullivan closed out the day with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ana Shanchez.

Columbia (2-0) is back in action next weekend when it travels to Malibu, Calif. to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Lions take on host and No. 2 ranked Pepperdine on Saturday, Jan. 29, then will face either Notre Dame or Colorado in the second match on Sunday, Jan. 30.