No. 8 Men’s Tennis Battles No. 1 Wake Forest in Elite Eight Matchup

Friday, May 16

Waco, Texas

11:00 a.m. ET

Columbia University

#1 Wake Forest

No. 8 Men’s Tennis Battles No. 1 Wake Forest in Elite Eight Matchup

5/14/2025 1:07:00 PM | Men's Tennis

NCAA Championship Central NCAA Men's Tennis Bracket

Lions take on top-ranked Demon Deacons for a spot in the semifinals

WACO, Texas – For the second consecutive year, the No. 8 Columbia men's tennis program will participate in the quarterfinals in the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship when they take on No. 1 Wake Forest on Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's match against Wake Forest will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can also follow live scoring HERE.

REWRITING HISTORY
For the third time in program history, the Lions earned the No. 8 seed – tied for the highest ranking every by a team from the Ivy League. Columbia is looking to become the first Ivy League program to advance to the semifinals. Last season, the Lions became the first team in league history to advance to the quarterfinals when they fell to No. 1 Ohio State 4-2 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

ABOUT WAKE FOREST
Wake Forest enters this week as the top-seed in the tournament. The Demon Deacons are 37-1 overall after finishing 13-0 in the ACC. Their lone loss of the year was in the second round of the ACC Tournament, when No. 6 Virginia defeated Wake Forest 4-3 at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. Wake Forest has surrendered just two or more points 13 times this season, once coming at the hands of Columbia.

Wake Forest began their tournament run with a 4-1 win over Gardner-Webb on May 2. They followed that up with a 4-1 win over No. 32 Kentucky. In their final home contest of the year, the Demon Deacons defeated No. 18 Texas A&M 4-0 in the Super Regionals.

AGAINST THE DEMON DEACONS
Friday will mark the second time the Lions have squared off against the Demon Deacons this season. Earlier this year, Wake Forest defeated Columbia 5-2 at home on February 8, it was the only home loss the Lions suffered this season. In that match, Columbia dropped the doubles point and fell behind 3-0 before Max Westphal and Michael Zheng made it 3-2 with wins in the singles play.

Friday will be the sixth ever meeting between the two powerhouses, with the Demon Deacons owning a 5-0 advantage in the series. The first ever meet on May 15, 2010 in the opening round of the NCAA Championship in Charlottesville, Vir. The two sides met once again in the postseason on May 18, 2018 in the Sweet 16 in Winston-Salem, N.C. with Wake Forest coming out on top 4-1.

2025 NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament Championships

Friday, May 16 - Quarterfinals
Match 1 – No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 8 Columbia - 11 a.m. ET
Match 2 – No. 4 Stanford vs. No. 12 Mississippi State - 2 p.m. ET
Match 3 – No. 2 TCU vs. No. 7 Virginia - 5 p.m. ET
Match 4 – No. 3 Texas vs. UCLA - 7 p.m. ET

Saturday, May 17 – Semifinals
Match 5 – TBD vs. TBD – 5 p.m. ET
Match 6 – TBD vs. TBD – 8 p.m. ET

Sunday, May 18 – Final
Match 7 – TBD vs. TBD – 8 p.m. ET

COLUMBIA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
This is the 18th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Lions. Columbia first made the NCAA Tournament in 1984 – led by first-year player Howard Endelman. All-time, the Lions are 17-17 in NCAA play. Under Endelman, the Lions are 10-4 in the NCAA Tournament and have one at least one postseason match every year. Last year, Columbia advanced to the programs first ever quarterfinal appearance after defeating Arizona 4-3 in the super regional. As one of the last eight teams standing, their postseason run ended when No. 1 Ohio State defeated the Lions 4-2 in Stillwater, Ok.

This year, Columbia has enjoyed being the home team through the first three rounds. In the opening round, the Lions soundly defeated Binghamton 4-0 before holding on to defeat No. 23 Clemson 4-2. In the Super Regional, Columbia got the better of NC State, defeating the Wolfpack 4-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.

LIONS IN THE ITA RANKINGS
In the latest ITA rankings, the Lions hold strong at the No. 9 spot. Columbia has been in the top-10 every week this season. Reaching a high of No. 6 on Feb. 5.

Singles
#2 – Michael Zheng
#52 – Nicolas Kotzen
#81 – Hugo Hashimoto
Doubles
#37 – Michael Zheng, Hugo Hashimoto
#41 – Michael Zheng, Nicolas Kotzen
#86 – Sachin Palta/Max Westphal

LAST TIME OUT
The Lions extended their winning streak to 10 matches in a row with a 4-2 win over No. 9 NC State.

FOLLOWING THE LIONS
Stay up to date on all things Columbia Men's Tennis by following the Lions on X (@CULionsMTEN), Instagram (@culionsmten) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).