No. 13 Men’s Tennis Set to Host Yale and Brown

Saturday, April 22

New York, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Columbia University

Yale

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

No. 13 Men’s Tennis Set to Host Yale and Brown

4/21/2023 10:53:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Garret Sulak

NEW YORK – With the regular season scheduling coming to a close, No. 13 Columbia will host Yale and Brown this weekend at the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.

The Lions will face Yale in a 1 p.m. match Saturday before wrapping up the weekend with a 1 p.m. first serve against Brown on Sunday.

IVY LEAGUE ACTION

Columbia enters the weekend with a 3-1 mark in Ivy League play. The Lions have posted wins over No. 50 Princeton, No. 52 Penn, and Dartmouth. Columbia lost to No. 15 Harvard last Sunday in a tight 4-3 match that came down to the last singles match.

The doubles play was impressive last week as the Lions secured the doubles point in the matches against Dartmouth and Harvard. The duo of Nicolas Kotzen and Max Westphal won the No. 2 doubles at Dartmouth. Alex Kotzen and Roko Horvat were victorious in the No. 3 spot in the Dartmouth match. Alex Kotzen and Horvat finished the weekend 2-0 as they won the No. 3 doubles at Harvard. Theo Winegar and Michael Zheng earned a win in the No. 1 doubles at Harvard.

No. 24 Zheng finished last weekend 1-1 in singles as he posted a win at Dartmouth before dropping a three-set decision at Harvard. Henry Ruger also registered a win at Dartmouth and a loss in the No. 5 spot at Harvard as he went 1-1 in the weekend.

The Kotzen brothers both went undefeated last weekend. Alex took two-set wins at Dartmouth and Harvard in the No. 4 spot. Nicolas battled in the No. 6 singles to earn wins at Dartmouth and Harvard to cap off the undefeated weekend.

LIONS IN THE RANKINGS

Two singles players and one doubles group are currently featured in the ITA rankings. First-year Michael Zheng has been ranked all spring. He came in at No. 14 in the first singles rankings and reached the No. 8 spot. Zheng is currently ranked No. 28 as the highest ranked individual on the team with a 14-4 record this spring that is highlighted by a nine-match win streak lasting from February to April. Max Westphal checked in at No. 108 in the most recent singles rankings as he is 10-4 in spring dual matches. Westphal and Theo Winegar came in at No. 33 in the doubles rankings.

As a team, the Lions started the season ranked No. 22 in the ITA team rankings. Columbia currently sits at No. 13 in the current ITA rankings.

Columbia jumped one spot up to No. 21 after the first week of dual action. The Lions then moved up to No. 19 and jumped to No. 11 after defeating Harvard to win the ECAC Championship.

The Lions reached their highest ranking of the season three weeks ago as they took the No. 9 spot before losing at No. 20 Tennessee.

This is the ninth year in a row that the Columbia men's tennis team has achieved a top-25 ranking. This is also the fourth time since 2018 that the Columbia men's tennis team has been ranked in the top 10.

THE MATCHUPS

Yale enters the weekend with an 11-8 overall record and 1-3 mark in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs went 0-2 last weekend with losses to Penn and Princeton. Yale's lone conference win came on the road at Dartmouth earlier this month.

Brown sits at 13-13 overall this season and 0-4 in Ivy League play. The Bears were also defeated by Princeton and Penn last weekend. Brown will visit Ithaca on Saturday to face No. 40 Cornell before travelling to Manhattan for Sunday's match.

FOLLOWING THE LIONS

Stay up to date on all things Columbia Men's Tennis by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsMTEN), Instagram (@culionsmten) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).