For the second straight year, the No. 8 Columbia men’s tennis team has reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship. The Lions will face top-seeded Wake Forest on Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
How to Watch
Fans can stream Friday’s match on ESPN+ and follow live scoring online.
Chasing History
Columbia earned the No. 8 seed for the third time in program history, matching the highest ranking ever achieved by an Ivy League team. Now, the Lions are looking to become the first Ivy League program to advance to the semifinals. Last season, they made history as the first Ivy team to reach the quarterfinals, falling to No. 1 Ohio State 4-2.
About Wake Forest
Wake Forest enters the quarterfinals as the tournament’s top seed with a 37-1 overall record. They went undefeated (13-0) in ACC play. Their only loss came in the ACC Tournament, where No. 6 Virginia edged them 4-3 in the second round.
In the NCAA Tournament, the Demon Deacons defeated Gardner-Webb (4-1), No. 32 Kentucky (4-1), and No. 18 Texas A&M (4-0) to reach the quarterfinals.
Wake Forest has given up two or more points only 13 times this season. One of those came against Columbia earlier this year.
Series History
This will be the second meeting between Columbia and Wake Forest this season. The Demon Deacons defeated the Lions 5-2 at home on February 8, handing Columbia its only home loss of the season. In that match, Columbia dropped the doubles point and trailed 3-0 before Max Westphal and Michael Zheng won in singles to close the gap to 3-2.
Friday’s quarterfinal will mark the sixth overall meeting between the two programs. Wake Forest holds a 5-0 lead in the series. Their first encounter was in the 2010 NCAA opening round. They met again in the 2018 Sweet 16, with Wake Forest winning 4-1.
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