NEW YORK - The eighth-ranked Columbia men's tennis team swept No. 40 Cornell on Saturday afternoon at the Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center. A dominant performance in the doubles matches got the momentum going early for the Lions.
Columbia (11-4, 1-0 Ivy) picked up its first conference win of the season, and eighth win against a ranked opponent. At home, the Lions improve to 9-1 on the year. Cornell (10-6, 0-1 Ivy) falls to 2-3 on the road
The Lions made quick work of the Big Red in the doubles matches. Columbia's top duo of
Michael Zheng/
Nicolas Kotzen defeated Cornell's top doubles team of Rushil Khosla/Eric Verdes, 6-1.
Max Westphal and
Sachin Palta secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win over Cornell's Nathan Mao/Radu Papoe in the No. 2 spot.
In the singles matches, Cornell did not make it easy on Columbia.
Jayden Templeman got a big win early at the No. 6 spot, defeating Nathan Mao in straight-sets (7-5, 6-3).
With the Lions leading 2-0,
Max Westphal came back to defeat Jack McCarthy 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the no. 3 spot. Then, in the No. 1 spot, top-ranked Zheng clinched the dual match against No. 47 Radu Papoe, winning 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
RESULTS
#8 Columbia 4, #40 Cornell 0
Singles
1. #1
Michael Zheng (COL) def. #47 Radu Pape (CU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
2. #42
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) vs. Adit Sinha (CU) 3-6, 7-5, 3-3 unfinished
3. #123
Max Westphal (COL) def. Jack McCarthy (CU) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
4.
Hugo Hashimoto (COL) vs. Rodrigo Fernandez (CU) 4-6, 6-4, 4-1, unfinished
5.
Sachin Palta (COL) vs. Felipe Pinzon (CU) 6-1, 4-6, 3-3, unfinished
6.
Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Nathan Mao (CU) 7-5, 6-3
Doubles
1. #35
Michael Zheng/
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. Rushil Khosla/Eric Verdes (CU) 6-1
2. Mas Westphal/
Sachin Palta (COL) def. Nathan Mao/Radu Papoe (CU) 6-3
3.
Hugo Hashimoto/
Jayden Templeman vs. Adit Sinha/Jack McCarthy (CU) 3-3 unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (6,3,1)
UP NEXT
Columbia returns to action next weekend, when it hosts Brown and Yale in back-to-back days. The match against Brown takes place on Saturday, April 5 at 1 p.m. Sunday's game against Yale is also scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
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