Men's Tennis

Tough Outing for No. 65 Yale Ends with 6-1 Loss to No. 49 Columbia

Huang Posts Lone Win with Upset over No. 60 Lin

NEW YORK – Less than 24 hours after a physically and mentally taxing win over No. 51 Cornell on Saturday, the Yale men's tennis team was unable to overcome No. 49 Columbia (12-8, 3-2 Ivy) on Sunday at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.  After the Lions won a fierce battle for the doubles point, they sustained their momentum in singles play to complete a 6-1 victory. 

Despite the loss, No. 65 Yale (16-5, 2-2 Ivy) remains at a good place in the Ivy League standings at No. 4, trailing No. 19 Harvard, No. 50 Princeton and Columbia.

The match got off to a superb start as the fight for the doubles point featured three high-quality clashes.  At No. 2 doubles, Yale's duo of junior Patrick Chase and senior John Huang sealed the first win by defeating Dragos Ignat and Bert Vancura 8-6.  The Lions matched this victory, however, when their No. 1 pairing of Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur, ranked No. 66 in the nation, edged the Bulldogs' No. 1 tandem of senior captain Daniel Hoffman and classmate Marc Powers.  The No. 3 doubles match came down to a tense tiebreaker, which Columbia's team of Winston Lin and Eric Rubin won to complete the 9-8 triumph over the Eli duo of sophomore Matt Saiontz and freshman Martin Svenning.   

Buoyed by their narrow victory in doubles, the Lions got off to a strong start in singles play, gaining three straight-set wins at the No.'s 3, 4 and 5 positions.  Svenning's loss to Schnur at No. 4 singles marks his first loss in conference play.  Senior Zachary Dean, meanwhile, became entangled in yet another three-set match at No. 6 singles, but was unable to reproduce his emphatic win from Saturday, falling to Vancura 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.  Despite the day's many setbacks, Huang was not about to let his team go away empty-handed, and courageously held off a comeback from Lin, ranked No. 60 in the country, to seal a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 upset at No. 1 singles. 

Ivy League play for the Elis continues in the upcoming week, as they take on No. 70 Dartmouth on Friday, Apr. 19, in their final away match of the season.  Two days later the Bulldogs will challenge perennial rival Harvard at home.

Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity

 

 Position  Columbia University  Yale University  Winner  Score
 #1 Singles  #60 Winston Lin  John Huang  Yale University  6-4,4-6,7-6
 #2 Singles  Dragos Ignat  Marc Powers  Columbia University  6-3,6-7,1-0(5)
 #3 Singles  Ashok Narayana  Daniel Hoffman  Columbia University  6-4,6-2
 #4 Singles  Max Schnur  Martin Svenning  Columbia University  7-6,6-4
 #5 Singles  Nathaniel Gery  Jason Brown  Columbia University  6-1,6-0
 #6 Singles  Bert Vancura  Zach Dean  Columbia University  6-3,1-6,6-3
 #1 Doubles  #66Ashok Narayana
 Max Schnur		  Daniel Hoffman
 Marc Powers		  Columbia University  8-6
 #2 Doubles  Bert Vancura
 Dragos Ignat		  John Huang
 Patrick Chase		  Yale University  8-6
 #3 Doubles  Winston Lin
 Eric Rubin		  Martin Svenning
 Matt Saiontz		  Columbia University  9-8
 
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