No. 40 Dartmouth Drops Ivy Opener to No. 28 Columbia

Saturday, April 2

New York, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Columbia

No. 40 Dartmouth Drops Ivy Opener to No. 28 Columbia

4/2/2016 7:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Dartmouth

NEW YORK, N.Y. – No. 40 Dartmouth men's tennis opened Ivy League play on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 loss to No. 28 Columbia at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.

The Big Green fell to 12-8 overall and 0-1 in conference action, while the Lions improved to 12-5 and 2-0.

“We did a nice job on all three doubles courts today,” head coach Chris Drake said. “Whether we needed to come back from being down on an early break or stay composed after losing a lead, we did the right things to give ourselves a shot. In the end, we played a good-tiebreaker to get the doubles point. In singles, we had them on the roes in a few sets that we didn't end up winning, and against a team as good as Columbia – and in that building – they usually make you pay for it.

“We had tremendous support from several of our former players and from many of our parents, and their enthusiastic and constant support was a huge factor in helping us compete so well today,” Drake continued. “We will now quickly get ready to play against a very good Cornell team tomorrow afternoon.”

All three doubles matches were incredibly close, but Dartmouth fought to come out on top. Columbia won at the No. 2 position by a score of 7-5, and a win of the same score by junior Max Schmidt and freshman Roko Glasnovic at No. 3 left it all down to senior Brendan Tannenbaum and junior George Wall at the No. 1 spot. Facing No. 15 Shawn Hadavi and Richard Pham, the Green battled to defeat the Lions, 7-6(5).

Wins at the No. 4 and 1 positions gave the lead back to Columbia. Sophomore Max Fliegner earned Dartmouth's lone singles win, taking down R. Pham, 6-4, 6-2, and two more wins for the Lions ended the match.

On Sunday, the Big Green will face No. 56 Cornell at 1 p.m.

1 – Tannenbaum/Wall (Dartmouth) def. No. 15 Hadavi/R. Pham (Columbia), 7-6(5)
2 – No. 28 Vermeer/Rolski (Columbia) def. Sakinis/Fliegner (Dartmouth), 7-5
3 – Schmidt/Glasnovic (Dartmouth) def. Alda/Grant (Columbia), 7-5

1 – No. 64 Hadavi (Columbia) def. No. 81 Sakinis (Dartmouth), 6-2, 6-2
2 – V. Pham (Columbia) vs. Riccardi (Dartmouth), 7-5, 4-6, 4-3, DNF
3 – Rubin (Columbia) def. Wall (Dartmouth), 6-4, 6-3
4 – Vermeer (Columbia) def. Tannenbaum (Dartmouth), 6-3, 6-1
5 – Fliegner (Dartmouth) def. R. Pham (Columbia), 6-4, 6-2
6 – Wang (Columbia) def. Schmidt (Dartmouth), 3-6 6-4, 6-4