No. 25 Men’s Tennis Takes On No. 13 Pepperdine on Friday

Friday, February 27

6:30 P.M.

Columbia

Pepperdine

No. 25 Men’s Tennis Takes On No. 13 Pepperdine on Friday

2/24/2026 11:40:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Lions looking to regroup from ECAC Championship loss to Princeton

NEW YORK - The 25th-ranked Columbia men's tennis team begins a four-match homestand when it welcomes No. 13 Pepperdine to the Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center. The Lions will battle the Waves on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE
Action from the Milstein Family Tennis Center this week will be broadcast live through Columbia's stretch portal. Fans can also follow live scores online for both matches this weekend.

LIONS IN THE ITA RANKINGS
In the latest ITA rankings, the Lions fell to No. 25. Columbia is one of six teams from the Ivy League ranked in the top-50, trailing only Princeton who is ranked No. 19. Michael Zheng remains in the top-10 in singles play, holding firm at No. 6, meanwhile Nicolas Kotzen (No. 36) and Sachin Palta (No. 66) are also ranked in singles play. In doubles, the Lions have two teams ranked in the top 55. Thanaphat Boosarawongse and Aditya Govila are the Lions' top-ranked duo at No. 27, while Kotzen and Andrew Ena check in at No. 53.

LAST TIME OUT
Columbia put up a battle but came up short against Princeton, falling 4-3, in the Championship match of the ECAC Indoor Championships at the Lenz Tennis Center on February 15. After the Tigers secured the doubles point, Columbia rallied back thanks to wins from Kotzen, Boosarawongse and Abhishek Thorat. Boosarawongse swung the momentum in the Lions' favor with a straight-sets win over No. 96 Sebastian Sec on court four. However, the Tigers sealed the win when Zheng fell to No. 7 Paul Inchauspe, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6.

HEATING UP
Senior Nicolas Kotzen is on a hotstreak for the Lions. Sitting at 18-7 overall and 6-2 in the spring, Kotzen is on a three-match winning streak after defeating Princeton's Fnu Nidunjianza 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the ECAC Championship. The win was Kotzen's 85th of his career.

SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine will be the fourth-ranked team the Lions have faced this spring. The Waves enter this week ranked No. 13 in the latest ITA rankings and are coming off a string of three consecutive top-25 matches. The Waves defeated No. 4 Stanford 4-0 on February 6 before falling 4-2 to No. 15 UCLA and No. 21 USC on the road. Top singles player Edward Winter was recently named the WCC Player of the Week after defeating the Trojan's Branko Djuric 6-2, 7-5 on Feb. 13.

SERIES HISTORY VERSUS PEPPERDINE
Friday marks the fifth time these two teams have squared off, but the first time they have played in New York. The first ever match up took place in 1984 in the first round (round of 16) of the NCAA team championship in Athens, Ga. Pepperdine won 7-2, defeating a squad led by first year player Howard Endelmen. All-time, the series is tied 2-2, with Columbia winning in 2023, and 2024. Last time out, the 21st-ranked Waves defeated the ninth-ranked Lions 4-1 in Southern California.

PEPPERDINE NOTABLES
Roster | Stats | Schedule

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).