Men's tennis falls in first round of NCAAs(from columbia)

graceliuyanjun

After fighting all season like every point was the last one that it was going to play, the men’s tennis team ran out of steam against No. 22 Wake Forest in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Championships, losing 4-0. The team, ranked No. 46 in the nation, qualified for the tournament after winning the Ivy League Championship. The match was played on the campus of the University of Virginia, and was the first outdoor match that the team had played since losing 4-3 on April 10, at Yale. The Demon Deacons will play host and No. 1 overall seed Virginia on Sunday.
The doubles point was the closest that Columbia would get to winning a point against Wake Forest. Unfortunately for the Light Blue, senior co-captain Mihai Nichifor hurt his ankle in practice earlier in the week, forcing him to sit out the doubles point. That meant the Lions to tweak their doubles lineup, as Nichifor normally teamed with fellow senior co-captain Jonathan Wong at No. 1 doubles. Against Wake Forest, Wong teamed up with sophomore Haig Schneiderman at No. 1, largely because the two played together at No. 2 last season. At No. 2 was junior Kevin Kung and freshman Nathaniel Gery, and rounding out the doubles lineup was sophomore Rajeev Deb-Sen with freshman Cyril Bucher, who was playing his first doubles match of the spring.
Wong and Schneiderman took on the No. 21 team in the nation, as they faced Steven Forman and Iain Atkinson. The Columbia team got off to a sluggish start, as it quickly found themselves down 7-2 and facing match point. Wong and Schneiderman managed to rally to 7-4, but lost when the Wake Forest duo served out the match. No. 3 doubles was on serve until serving at 4-3. The Wake Forest team of Danny Kreyman and Tripper Carleton broke them, and held serve to put the pressure back on Columbia. Deb-Sen and Bucher found themselves down 7-4 and match point, and rallied to win the game, but the Wake Forest team broke Columbia to win the match 8-5 and give Wake Forest the doubles point and the momentum in the match.
Kung and Gery were winning their match at No. 2 singles 6-4, when it was halted because the outcome of the point was already decided. The two teams were tied at 4-4, although Columbia had numerous break points to take an early lead, but Kung and Gery broke their opponents at 4-4, and held for a 6-4 lead before the match was called.
Columbia could not find any momentum in the singles matches either, as five of the six Columbia singles players lost their first sets. Wake Forest’s lineup featured four players ranked in the top 125, highlighted by No. 1 singles player Steven Forman, who is ranked No. 26 in the nation. Nichifor played gamely at No. 2 singles on a bad ankle, but clearly didn’t have the ability to move and keep up with his opponent, No. 48 Tripper Carleton. Nichifor dropped the first set 6-2, and was down 4-1 in the second when he retired, giving Wake Forest a 2-0 lead. The match was the final one of his career.
Sophomore Haig Schneiderman at No. 3 singles was the next Columbia player to fall, as he faced No. 98 Iain Atkinson. Schneiderman hung tough in the first set, going up 2-1 early, but Atkinson responded quickly, by breaking back and taking the set 6-4. Schneiderman lost the second set 6-2, giving Wake Forest a 3-0 lead.
Freshman Cyril Bucher’s loss gave Wake Forest a 4-0 lead. Bucher was up an early break in the first set, but ended up losing the first set 6-3 to No. 118 Jonathan Wolff. Bucher lost the second 6-2.
Deb-Sen was down 6-2, 5-2 when his match was stopped because the match had been decided. Wong at No. 1 singles started off slowly in his match, going down 4-0 in the first set. Wong rallied to make it 4-3, but Forman held his nerve and served out the set 6-4. Wong was down 3-0 in the second set when his match was stopped. Gery won his first set 7-5, and was up an early break in the second set, and was clinging to a 2-1 lead in the set when his match was halted.
The men’s tennis team finishes the season with a record of 16-5 (6-1 Ivy). Jonathan Wong will take part in the 2010 NCAA Singles Championships on May 26 in Athens, Georgia.