The Columbia men's tennis team dropped their first round match in the NCAA tournament to #22 Wake Forest, 4-0 Saturday. The match took place at the Snyder Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Virginia. 




Wake Forest won the doubles point, and then three singles matches at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 in quick succession to defeat the Lions, 4-0. The rest of the matches were suspended when the team score was decided.



Doubles was the most contested point of the day for the Lions. Though Wake Forest took early leads on all three courts, Columbia was able to stay with the Deacons for most of the match.



The No. 1 doubles match was the first to come off the court, as Jonathan Wong and Haig Schneiderman couldn’t stay with No. 21 Steven Forman and Iain Atkinson. After being down, 7-2, the Lion duo was able to fight back at match point and win two games, before falling 8-4 in the end. 



In the No. 3 spot, Rajeev Deb-Sen and Cyril Bucher stayed on serve for several games, before Danny Kreyman and Tripper Carleton were able to break them up 4-3, and take the 5-3 lead. From there, it was an uphill battle for the Deacons. Down 7-4, Deb-Sen and Bucher were able to break serve facing match point, and closed the lead to 7-5. But the Wake duo returned the favor in the next game, breaking the Lions and taking the 8-5 win.



The bright spot for Columbia in the doubles spot was the play of Kevin Kung and Nathaniel Gery in the No. 2 doubles spot, who were winning 6-4 when their match was suspended. The two teams played each other closely in the first eight games, as it was tied 3-3 and then 4-4 on serve early on. But Kung and Gery were able to break Wake, and take the 5-4 lead, and that looked like it would be the turning point of the match. Staying on serve, Gery and Kung took a 6-4 lead, and seemed to be cruising to a win when the match was suspended. With the wins at Nos. 1 and 3, Wake Forest clinched the doubles point, and took the early 1-0 lead in the match.



Singles proved to be the difference in the match. With four nationally ranked players in the top of the lineup, the Deacons overwhelmed the Lions, winning the match in just over two hours.



Senior co-captain Mihai Nichifor, who had sat out doubles due to an injury, was the first to fold in singles. After dropping the first set 6-2, Nichifor was down 4-1 when he retired due to the same injury, giving #48 Carleton the win, and Wake the 2-0 lead.