No. 7 Men’s Tennis Sweeps UC Irvine, 7-0

Friday, March 15

Irvine, Calif.

2:00 PM ET

Columbia University

UC Irvine

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Stockton Photo, Inc.

3/15/2024 11:06:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score (PDF)

Columbia finishes its California trip with three wins

By: Garret Sulak

IRVINE, Calif. – The seventh-ranked Columbia men's tennis team dominated in Friday's match to earn a 7-0 sweep at UC Irvine. The Lions close out their spring break trip to California with three wins to improve to 12-2 overall.

Columbia battled through doubles to take the lead early. The 22^nd-ranked duo of Nicolas Kotzen and Max Westphal earned Columbia's first win with a 6-4 victory over Andy Nguyen and Hiroki Sakagawa in the No. 2 doubles. Alex Kotzen and Henry Ruger won a tiebreaker in the No. 3 spot to clinch the doubles point for Columbia. The duo defeated Brandon Park and Matt Sah, 7-6(3).

No. 18 Michael Zheng and Theo Winegar played to a tiebreaker with Noah Zamora and Rahul Dhokia in the top doubles. Their match went unfinished when Columbia secured the doubles point.

The Lions rolled through singles to finish off the 7-0 sweep over the Anteaters. Columbia won all the singles matches in two sets, except for Westphal's 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Nguyen in the No. 4 spot.

Ruger kicked off singles with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Ali Amiri in the No. 6 position. No. 113 Nicolas Kotzen followed that up with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Rithvik Krishna in the No. 3 singles. 15^th-ranked Zheng clinched the Columbia win with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Sakagawa in the top singles.

The match was played out as Columbia secured three more singles win to finish off the day. Hugo Hashimoto earned a 6-3, 6-3 win against Lawee Sherif in the No. 5 spot. 77^th-ranked Alex Kotzen cruised in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Zamora in the No. 2 spot.

RESULTS
#7 Columbia 7, UC Irvine 0

Singles
1. #15 Michael Zheng (COL) def. Hiroki Sakagawa (UCI) 6-4, 6-3
2. #77 Alex Kotzen (COL) def. Noah Zamora (UCI) 7-5, 6-4
3. #113 Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. Rithvik Krishna (UCI) 6-2, 6-4
4. Max Westphal (COL) def. Andy Nguyen (UCI) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
5. Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. Lawee Sherif (UCI) 6-3, 6-3
6. Henry Ruger (COL) def. Ali Amiri (UCI) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles
1. #18 Michael Zheng/Theo Winegar (COL) vs. Noah Zamora/Rahul Dhokia (UCI) 6-6(4-3), unfinished
2. #22 Nicolas Kotzen/Max Westphal (COL) def. Andy Nguyen/Hiroki Sakagawa (UCI) 6-4
3. Alex Kotzen/Henry Ruger (COL) def. Brandon Park/Matt Sah (UCI) 7-6(3)

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

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