No. 12 Men’s Tennis Opens Spring Season At Tar Heel Invitational

Saturday, January 13

Chapel Hill, N.C.

All Day

Columbia

Tar Heel Invitational

No. 12 Men’s Tennis Opens Spring Season At Tar Heel Invitational

1/12/2024 1:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis

ITA Rankings

The 2024 campaign begins in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

By: Garret Sulak

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 12 Columbia men's tennis team will start the spring season by competing at the Tar Heel Invitational hosted by North Carolina at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill.

Columbia will join No. 13 North Carolina, Boise State and Tulsa in the three-day event starting Saturday and ending Monday. There will be no live scoring or live video available.

The Tar Heel Invitational marks the beginning of a competitive 2024 schedule for the Lions. Columbia's schedule features matches against 12 teams included in the 2023 NCAA Tournament field - Pepperdine, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Cornell, UCLA, Northwestern, Tennessee, Harvard and NC State. Columbia will pick up three more matches against teams from last year's field during the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

"We are looking forward to the dual match season," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman said. "Our players have worked hard and have focused on continuing to build a culture of development and improvement."

LOOKING BACK
Columbia finished the 2023 season with a 20-4 overall record that culminated with a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Lions captured eight wins against ranked opponents and defeated then-No. 14 Harvard, 4-3 to win the ECAC Championship early in the season. Columbia's 20 wins is the most in a single season during Endelman's tenure. The Lions finished the season ranked No. 13 in the final ITA Division I National Rankings.

Five Lions earned a spot on the 2023 All-Ivy League list and Endelman garnered Ivy League Coach of the Year honors. Michael Zheng made Ivy League history as the first men's tennis player to be named Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Ivy in singles and doubles in the same season.

To cap off the spring season, Zheng earned a spot in the NCAA Singles Round of 16 to become the first first-year in program history to earn All-American recognition.

SUSTAINING SUCCESS
Entering the 2024 season, Columbia has reached the NCAA Tournament for seven consecutive years (There was no Ivy League competition in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid). The Lions have captured six of the last eight Ivy League titles and have advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championships in four of the last eight seasons. Columbia has achieved a top 10 national ranking in four of the last five seasons. After peaking at No. 9 in 2023, the Lions finished ranked No. 13, which is the highest final ranking in program history.

FALL SEASON
Zheng and Ishaan Ravichander each registered 10 singles wins during the fall season. Zheng earned a spot in the ITA National Fall Championships, where he advanced to the consolation quarterfinals. Zheng also reached the singles semifinals of the ITA Northeast Super Regionals.

Sachin Palta went 6-4 in fall singles action, while Henry Ruger was 6-3. Nick Kotzen posted a 5-1 fall singles record. Kotzen earned a spot in the ITA Northeast Super Regionals and advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Max Westphal finished with a 5-5 singles mark.

On the doubles side, the duo of Palta and Theo Winegar went 4-0 this fall. Roko Horvat and Hugo Hashimoto were 3-0, while Jayden Templeman and Westphal also posted a 3-0 record. Kotzen and Westphal teamed up and were 4-1 overall. Palta and Templeman also went 4-1 as a team. Palta and Templeman advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA Northeast Super Regionals.

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).