No. 11 Men’s Tennis Holds Off No. 52 Penn, 4-3

Sunday, April 9

New York, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Columbia University

#52 Penn

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

No. 11 Men’s Tennis Holds Off No. 52 Penn, 4-3

4/9/2023 8:49:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score (PDF)Max Westphal Clinch

Lions start Ivy League play 2-0

By: Garret Sulak

NEW YORK – The Columbia singles play proved critical for the second time this weekend as the Lions relied on four singles wins to hold off No. 52 Penn in a thrilling 4-3 win Sunday afternoon in front of more than 200 fans at the Milstein Family Tennis Center.

No. 11 Columbia improves to 15-2 overall this spring with a perfect 2-0 mark in Ivy League play after the first weekend.

Penn took the doubles point to start the match Sunday. The Quaker duo of Zachery Lim and Harsh Parikh posted a 6-4 win against Roko Horvat and Max Westphal in the No. 2 doubles. Edoardo Graziani and Kevin Zhu then clinched the doubles point for Penn as they thwarted the comeback attempt from Michael Zheng and Theo Winegar to take a 6-3 win in the No. 1 spot.

The brothers, Alex and Nicolas Kotzen played together at the No. 3 spot. Their match went unfinished as they trailed, 4-5 when Penn clinched the doulbes point.

No. 22 Zheng worked quick to start singles play with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Edoardo Graziani in the No. 1 spot. Zheng jumped out to a 3-1 lead before cruising to the first set win. He took a 4-2 lead to open the second set as he finished off the win.

The Quakers responded with back-to-back singles wins to take a 3-1 lead with the match winding down. Penn's Manfredi Graziani took a 6-4, 6-4 win against Nicolas Kotzen in the No. 5 singles. Gupta followed that up with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Alex Kotzen in the No. 3 spot.

Hugo Hashimoto took a 6-2, 7-5 win against Parikh in the No. 4 singles. Hashimoto jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set as he took a quick first set win. The second set went back and forth until Hashimoto worked a late break to secure the 7-5 win.

Henry Ruger tied the match, 3-3 as he finished off a two-set, 6-0, 7-6(9-7) victory over Baylor Sai. Ruger rolled to a 6-0 first set win. Sai answered back in the second set, but Ruger was able to overcome a 3-5 deficit to force a tiebreaker. Ruger again found himself down. He rallied back to win the tiebreaker, 9-7 to secure the match win.

With one match remaining, all eyes turned to the No. 2 singles, where No. 96 Westphal faced Penn's Zhu. Westphal battled to take a 7-5 first-set win. Zhu then responded with a 6-3 win in the second set to force the third set. The two held serve the entire set, forcing a tiebreaker. Down 40-15 and serving, Westphal rallied back to hold serve and take a 4-3 lead, which proved to be critical down the stretch. Westphal took a lead early in the tiebreak and finished off a 7-4 tiebreak win to clinch the match win for the Lions.

"I am extremely proud of our players who showed tremendous heart," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman said. "Max (Westphal) and Kevin (Zhu) played a flawless third set. The fan support made it even more special."

RESULTS

#11 Columbia vs. #52 Penn
April 9, 2023 – New York, N.Y.
Milstein Family Tennis Center

#11 Columbia 4, #52 Penn 3

Singles
1. #22 Michael Zheng (COL) def. Edoardo Graziani (PENN) 6-1, 6-3
2. #96 Max Westphal (COL) def. Kevin Zhu (PENN), 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(7-4)
3. Aditya Gupta (PENN) def. Alex Kotzen (COL) 6-4, 6-3
4. Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. Harsh Parikh (PENN) 6-2, 7-5
5. Manfredi Graziani (PENN) def. Nicolas Kotzen (COL) 6-4, 6-4
6. Henry Ruger (COL) def. Baylor Sai (PENN) 6-0, 7-6(9-7)

Doubles
1. Edoardo Graziani/Kevin Zhu (PENN) def. Michael Zheng/Theo Winegar (COL) 6-3
2. Zachery Lim/Harsh Parikh (PENN) def. Roko Horvat/Max Westphal (COL) 6-4
3. Alex Kotzen/Nick Kotzen (COL) vs. Manfredi Graziana/Aditya Gupta (PENN) 4-5 UF

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,5,3,4,6,2)

UP NEXT

The Lions continue the Ivy League slate on the road next weekend with matches at Dartmouth and No. 15 Harvard. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Dartmouth. The Lions will cap off the weekend with a 1 p.m. first serve at Harvard on Sunday in the third meeting of the season between the two teams.

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