The Columbia men’s tennis team, ranked No. 34 nationally, will play two key matches this weekend, traveling to face No. 39 Penn on Friday, Apr. 9 before hosting No. 37 Princeton on Sunday at the Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.
These matchups are significant as they feature three teams ranked among the top programs in collegiate men’s tennis. The Lions’ performance could impact their standing within both the Ivy League and national rankings.
Columbia’s home match against Princeton will also include a community event with the Harlem Junior Tennis & Education Program, a nonprofit that has served Harlem for over five decades by promoting development in tennis, education, and wellness.
According to the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, Columbia is one of seven Ivy League teams placed within the top 75 nationally. Several players from these schools also hold individual rankings: Michael Zheng (No. 9), Nicolas Kotzen (No. 45), Sachin Palta (No. 84) in singles; Thanaphat Boosarawongse and Aditya Govila (No. 44), as well as Kotzen and Andrew Ena (No. 64) in doubles.
Last weekend saw Columbia start its Ivy League campaign with wins over Brown and Yale—defeating Brown 4-0 and Yale 5-2 during away games.
Penn enters Friday’s contest with a strong home record of eleven wins without loss this season and an overall mark of sixteen wins to seven losses; their leading singles player Manfredi Graziana is ranked No. 71 nationally while Vojtech VAles leads his team with fifteen victories this year.
Sunday’s opponent Princeton arrives on a four-match losing streak but holds an all-time series advantage over Columbia at seventy-four wins to forty-four; however, recent history favors Columbia who had won fourteen straight before dropping a close match earlier this year.
