ORLANDO, Fla. – First-year
Michael Zheng added All-American honors to his already lengthy list of accomplishments during his first season as part of the Columbia men's tennis program.
By securing his spot in the round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships, Zheng earned ITA All-American honors. Zheng becomes the first first-year athlete in program history to be named an All-American.
"We are extremely proud of Michael," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis
Howard Endelman said. "To be an All-American as a first-year Columbia student is a wonderful accomplishment."
Zheng adds the All-American honor to a list of achievements this season that includes being named the Ivy League Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Ivy in singles and doubles. Zheng became the first player in Ivy League history to win all four awards in one season.
Looking to clinch a spot in the NCAA Singles Round of 16, Zheng met Michigan's Gavin Young in the round of 32 on Tuesday morning. Zheng used some early momentum to take a 6-3 first set win. Young bounced back to take the second set and force a third set. Coming off a 3-6 second set loss, Zheng didn't blink as he rolled to a 6-0 third set win to post a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win over Young.
Zheng got the singles championships started with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win over Texas Tech's Olle Wallin in the round of 64 on Monday afternoon.
Zheng will continue his run in the singles championships on Wednesday in the round of 16. He will face either Ondrej Styler (Michigan) or Daniel De Jonge (Pepperdine) with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line.
NCAA SINGLES TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The NCAA Singles Championship features 64 of the best players in division I college tennis seeded by the NCAA based on seasonal performance. The best player from each of the 12 conferences received automatic qualification while the remaining 52 were selected at-large with performance and ranking by the ITA considered. Zheng received an at-large berth for his performance this season. All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. Singles play begins on Monday, with one round being contested each day until the finals on Saturday, May 27.
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