No. 8 Men’s Tennis Captures Ivy League Title

Sunday, April 21

Providence, R.I.

1:00 PM

Columbia University

Brown

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics

4/21/2024 6:33:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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Columbia wins its first Ivy League Championship since 2019

By: Garret Sulak

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The No. 8 Columbia men's tennis team defeated Brown, 7-0, Sunday afternoon to win its first Ivy League Championship since 2019.

Today's win helped Columbia finish the regular season with a 20-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in Ivy League play. The Lions share this year's conference crown with Harvard, who also finished 6-1 in Ivy action. This is Columbia's 17^th conference championship in program history and is the first under coach Howard Endelman.

"I'm just so proud of our players," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman '87CC said. They work extremely hard - both in the classroom and on the tennis court - and they represent our wonderful University with class and competitiveness. Our guys have been ranked top-10 in the country for the entire season which is a tremendous and unprecedented accomplishment for our program. We all feel privileged to play for the supporters of Columbia Tennis, a special group of people spanning many generations."

Columbia cruised through doubles to start the match with a 1-0 advantage. The 13^th-ranked duo of Theo Winegar and Michael Zheng took a 6-4 win over Noah Hernandez and Chun Lam in the top doubles. Alex Kotzen and Henry Ruger defeated Sam Feldman and James Lian, 6-1 in the No. 3 doubles to help the Lions take the doubles point.

The Lions continued to dominate in singles, winning all six matches in two sets. No. 21 Zheng, No. 91 Alex Kotzen, Nicolas Kotzen, Max Westphal, Hugo Hashimoto and Henry Ruger earned singles victories to help finish off the 7-0 victory.

Hashimoto continued to impress as his win helped finish the regular season with a perfect 15-0 record playing in the No. 5 singles. Zheng is now 13-5 in the top singles this season, while Alex Kotzen is 11-4 playing the No. 2 position. Nicolas Kotzen also finished an impressive regular season with a 13-3 mark in the No. 3 singles.

Columbia earned the Ivy League's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, but will tune into the selection show on Monday, April 29 at 6 p.m. to see who the Lions will face in the first round. The Lions are projected to move up to the No. 7 spot in the new rankings by College Tennis Ranks.

RESULTS
#8 Columbia 7, Brown 0

Doubles
1. #13 Theo Winegar/Michael Zheng (COL) def. Noah Hernandez/Chun Lam (BU) 6-4
2. #66 Nicolas Kotzen/Max Westphal (COL) vs. Alex Finkelstein/Alexander Bravo (BU) 5-5 (unfinished)
3. Alex Kotzen/Henry Ruger (COL) def. Sam Feldman/James Lian (BU) 6-1

Singles
1. #21 Michael Zheng (COL) def. Noah Hernandez (BU) 7-5, 6-4
2. #91 Alex Kotzen (COL) def. Alex Finkelstein (BU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. Chun Lam (BU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Max Westphal (COL) def. Alexander Bravo (BU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. James Lian (BU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Henry Ruger (COL) def. Alexander Koong (BU) 7-6(4), 6-1

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