NEW YORK — No. 8 seed Columbia will head back to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship Quarterfinals after defeating ninth-seeded NC State, 4-2, in the Super Regional on Saturday afternoon at the Milstein Family Tennis Center. This is the second straight year the Lions have hosted and won their Super Regional.
 
Columbia (20-4) will head to Waco, Texas, for the national quarterfinals, where it will meet No. 1 Wake Forest (37-1) on Friday, May 16. This is Columbia's second quarterfinals appearance in program history, earning their first such trip last season.
 
"I'm so proud of the guys," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman said. "It was very windy up here and I thought our guys responded very well. We played a very solid doubles point and then we started off well in singles. Michael, Max and Hugo all got up a break early and I thought that set the tone."
 
The Lions earned wins on Court 1 and Court 3 to take the doubles point. No. 41-ranked double tandem Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen earned an early break and took down No. 6-ranked Braden Schick and Fons Van Sambeek, 6-3. Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman came on late to run away with their match against Nikolay Nedelchev and Martin Borisiouk, 6-2.
 
Michael Zheng, Max Westphal and Hugo Hashimoto all earned early breaks in singles to give Columbia the first wave of momentum. Zheng went on to dominate his first set, 6-2, while Hashimoto held serve the rest of the opening set to win it, 6-4. Meanwhile, Westphal wound up going down a break, broke back to bring the set to 4-all, held serve to go up 5-4 and then broke Van Sambeek to take his first set, 6-4.
 
"Michael played a pretty solid first set but then his opponent played much better," Endelman added. "Martin Borisiouk is a really good player. Look, Michael was down, 4-2, in the second and he ended up winning 6-4. He's just been a rock for us the whole year.
 
"Max and Hugo are seniors and they've had absolutely wonderful careers. We're so proud of them and they came through for us again. It's absolutely remarkable. I'm very proud of the guys. They've put in a lot of effort and work, and they do a lot of things to improve when people aren't watching."
 
NC State (22-7) took the first sets on courts 2, 5 and 6. Luca Staeheli bested Nick Kotzen, 6-2, while William Manning and Nikolay Nedelchev each earned 6-3 set wins over Sachin Palta and Thanaphat Boosarawongse.
 
The three NC State first-set wins kept the pressure on, but Columbia's experienced players were up to the task. First, it was Hashimoto completing his win over Jules Leroux, 6-4, 6-2. The singles matches then finished in a flurry, with Staeheli earning NC State's first point, 6-2, 6-1, Zheng finishing off a feisty Borisiouk, 6-2, 6-4, and Nedelchev holding off Boosarawongse, 6-3, 6-4.
 
That brought the team match to 3-2 in favor of Columbia with Max Westphal serving for Columbia's second straight Super Regional title. The senior came through over Van Sambeek, 6-4, 6-2, as the Lions rushed the court in celebration.
 
Match time for next Friday's NCAA Quarterfinal between Columbia and Wake Forest will be posted when available.
 
RESULTS
NCAA Men's Tennis Super Regional
#8 Columbia 4 - #9 NC State 2
 
Singles
1. #2 Michael Zheng (COL) def. #30 Martin Borisiouk (NCST) | 6-2, 6-4
2. #91 Luca Staeheli (NCST) def. #52 Nicolas Kotzen (COL) | 6-2, 6-1
3. Max Westphal (COL) def. Fons van Sambeek (NCST) | 6-4, 6-2
4. #81 Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. Jules Leroux (NCST) | 6-4, 6-2
5. Sachin Palta (COL) vs. William Manning (NCST) | 3-6, 4-4 (unfinished)
6. Nikolay Nedelchev (NCST) def. Thanaphat Boosarawongse (COL) | 3-6, 4-6
 
Doubles
1. #41 Michael Zheng/Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. #6 Braden Schik/Fons Van Sambeek (NCST) | 6-3
2. #86 Max Westphal/Sachin Palta (COL) vs. #20 Luca Staeheli/Jules Leroux (NCST) | 4-5, unfinished
3. Hugo Hashimoto/Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Nikolay Nedelchev/Martin Borisiouk (NCST) | 6-2

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