No. 23 men's tennis scrapes past No. 21 UNC for ranked win

Upper West Side NY

28 February, 2022

3:40 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY TAKASHI WILLIAMS FEBRUARY 27, 2022 Men's tennis had a triumphant weekend, taking home a top 25 national ranking from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and a crucial win over No. 21 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Columbia (5-2) and Harvard (8-2) are currently the only Ivy League programs in the top 25 national rankings. However, the Light Blue showed its ambitions this weekend, beating the higher-ranked No. 21 Tar Heels this past weekend with an overall score of 4-3. In Chapel Hill, the Lions pounced on the Tar Heels (5-4) immediately and secured the doubles victory. First-year Max Westphal and sophomore Theo Winegar, ranked No. 29 for doubles pairs in collegiate tennis, earned a 6-4 win, a score duplicated by sophomores Alex Kotzen and Roko Horvat in the next match. This granted the Lions the first overall win in their matchup, moving to an overall score of 1-0. Senior Austen Huang opened the singles matches for the Lions with a decisive straight set win. Unfortunately, No. 96 first-year Hugo Hashimoto was unable to secure another win for the Light Blue in an intense straight set loss. Westphal dropped his match as well, losing the first set in a tiebreaker and the second set by a break. With these losses, the Tar Heels leveled the score at 2-2. Then, sophomore Henry Ruger stepped up, displaying a decisive performance at the fifth singles spot to help the Light Blue regain the lead. After a commanding first-set score of 6-3, he closed out the second with a late break of serve against UNC's Anuj Watane. With his second-set score of 7-5, the Lions were one win away from taking the match at 3-2. The Tar Heels had other plans in mind, though. No. 7 Kotzen was unable to close out his singles match, with a devastating third-set loss. Kotzen, who started out with a pivotal first-set win of 6-3, dropped the next two sets with similar scores of 6-3 against him. The match then became sudden death with an overall score of between both schools 3-3. With the entire match resting on his shoulders, Horvat took the pressure on in stride. He eked out a win in the first set by a close score of 7-5, but was unable to break his opponent again, forcing a tiebreak in the second set. Horvat kept his composure and closed out the match with a score of 8-6 in the tiebreaker. He not only clinched a top 25 win for the Lions, but also gained his first match-clinching victory of his collegiate career. With a record of 5-2, the Lions have a lot to be optimistic about going into the second half of their season. Although they struggled against fellow powerhouse schools such as the University of Texas (7-5) and the University of Tennessee (11-2), they were able to scavenge solid wins against the likes of Oklahoma State (6-5) and most recently, UNC. They even placed second to Harvard in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Tennis Championship earlier this month. The Light Blue will be taking on Penn State University this upcoming Saturday at home at the Cary Leeds Tennis Center. Staff writer Takashi Williams can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @takashiversace. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.