No. 6 Men’s Tennis Earns 4-1 Win Over No. 21 NC State

Sunday, February 2

New York, N.Y.

2:30 PM

Columbia

#21 NC State

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Lem Photography

No. 6 Men’s Tennis Earns 4-1 Win Over No. 21 NC State

2/2/2025 9:58:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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Columbia improves to 4-0 to start the season

By: Garret Sulak

NEW YORK – The sixth-ranked Columbia men's tennis team improved to 4-0 overall with a 4-1 victory over No. 21 NC State on Sunday afternoon inside the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.

Columbia secured the critical doubles point to start the match with a 1-0 advantage. The Lions turned in victories in the one and three doubles.

The NC State duo of Jules Leroux and Luca Staeheli defeated Max Westphal and Sachin Palta, 6-3 in the No. 2 doubles to get the match started. Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen responded with a 6-4 win against No. 102 Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek in the top match.

The 75^th-ranked duo of Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman clinched the doubles point for the Lions by finishing off a 6-3 victory over Martin Borisiouk and Noah Gabriel in the No. 3 doubles.

No. 1 Zheng, Templeman and No. 42 Nicolas Kotzen earned wins in singles play to lead Columbia to the 4-1 team victory. The top ranked player in the nation, Michael Zheng earned a quality win over No. 17 Shick in two sets at the top singles, 7-6(5), 6-2 to kick off singles.

NC State's Van Sambeek posted the lone singles win for the Wolfpack with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Westphal in the No. 4 singles.

Templeman and Kotzen closed out the match with the final two singles wins. Templeman downed Gabriel, 6-4, 6-4 in the six singles. Kotzen closed out the match with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over No. 26 Borisiouk in the No. 2 singles.

RESULTS
#6 Columbia 4, #21 NC State 1
Doubles
1. Michael Zheng/Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. #102 Braden Shick/Fons Van Sambeek (NCSU) 6-4
2. Jules Leroux/Luca Staeheli (NCSU) def. Max Westphal/Sachin Palta (COL) 6-3
3. #75 Hugo Hashimoto/Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Martin Borisiouk/Noah Gabriel (NCSU) 6-3

Singles
1. #1 Michael Zheng (COL) def. #17 Braden Shick (NCSU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
2. #42 Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. #26 Martin Borisiouk (NCSU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
3. #33 Hugo Hashimoto (COL) vs. #97 Luca Staeheli (NCSU) 6-7 (6-8), 5-0, unfinished
4. Fons Van Sambeek (NCSU) def. Max Westphal (COL) 6-4, 6-3
5. Thanaphat Boosarawongse (COL) vs. Jules Leroux (NCSU) 6-4, 6-6 (6-5), unfinished
6. Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Noah Gabriel (NCSU) 6-4, 6-4

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

UP NEXT
Columbia is back in action next weekend against Wake Forest and Michigan for another set of ranked matchups. The Lions host Wake Forest for a 1 p.m. serve Saturday before facing Michigan on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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