Lions split weekend's closely contested matches

It was the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for the men’s tennis team this weekend.

Sophomore John Yetimoglu won the deciding match 7-6 in the third set against Yale after holding off two match points, but on Sunday freshman Tizian Bucher was the victim, as he lost the deciding singles match 7-5 in the third set after serving for it at 5-4.

“I felt the boys were fighting really hard,” said head coach Bid Goswami. “Unfortunately for us, we’re not putting it together in the doubles. Kevin being out in the doubles hurts us; he was one of our top players. This year, our depth is not as much and it has a bit of an effect, but yesterday’s match shows how much they guys are fighting. We were down 3-0 and fought back. Today we fought back too.”

Columbia lost the doubles point against Yale on Saturday, losing at No. 1 and 2 doubles.

The Lions soon found themselves down 3-0, as the Bulldogs dominated the early singles play. Yale sophomore John Huang routed sophomore Cyril Bucher 6-2, 6-0 and fellow sophomore Nate Gery lost in straight sets to Yale’s Daniel Hoffman. Everyone was forced to move up a spot in the lineup, as Columbia’s senior co-captain Kevin Kung was out with an ankle injury. Columbia needed to win all the remaining singles matches to gain a victory in the match.

The biggest upset of the day came at No. 1 singles, where junior Haig Schneiderman took out Yale sophomore Marc Powers 6-0, 3-6, 6-2. Last year, Powers went 7-0 at No. 1 singles and became the first player to ever win Ivy League Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same year. Tizian Bucher played No. 5 singles and won a tight match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and junior Rajeev Deb-Sen soon followed with a tight 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win at No. 6, shifting all eyes to Yetimoglu at No. 5. Yetimoglu lost the first set, but rallied to win the second in a tiebreak. The third set was played with everyone watching and stayed on serve until Yetimoglu was serving down 4-5. Yale junior Erik Blumenkranz had his first match point but Yetimoglu saved it with a tremendous backhand passing shot. The two would play to a tiebreak, where Yetimoglu raced out to a 5-2 lead only to see Blumenkranz rally and earn a second match point which Yetimoglu saved with a service winner. Yetimoglu got his second match point and won when his opponent double faulted, giving Columbia a 4-3 victory.

“I think that’s what tennis is all about, if you ask me, I always tell our guys,” Goswami said. “Once they come through in these matches they become so confident.”
Against the Bears, Columbia started slowly again and conceded the doubles point.

“We played really bad third doubles, we beat that same team at ECACs. We’re not playing good doubles, I thought Haig at third could take over, but for whatever reason it’s not coming through. So we put ourselves deep into a hole, and yesterday we came out and today we didn’t.”

Schneiderman won easily at No. 1, as did Gery at No. 3. Kung fell in straight sets at No. 2 and Yetimoglu lost at No. 5 in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 after getting a game penalty for arguing with the umpire. Deb-Sen won his second three-set match at No. 6, shifting all eyes to Tizian Bucher at No. 5. Bucher split the first two sets, and served for the match at 5-4, but Tim Klanke hit spectacular shots repeatedly and rallied to win the final three games and win the match 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to give Brown a 4-3 win.