Front row (l-r): Pavle Jefferson '02, Darryl Weber '02, Sam Josephs '01, Salil Seshadri '00 (captain), Mickey Kaplan '02, Vlad Valcea '03, Ethan Farbman '02; back row: Asst. Coach Amin Khalaf, Head Coach Bid Goswami, Donny Opici '01, Oscar Chow '03, Peter Holik '03, Steve Millerman '01 (captain), Akram Zaman '01, Erik Zmara '02, Asst. Coach Patric Westoo.

Columbia men's tennis team captured the Ivy League title with a 4-2 victory over Princeton last month, on the clay courts of the Columbia Tennis Center at Baker Field. By defeating Princeton, the Lions completed a 7-0 sweep of their League rivals to earn the title that was last theirs in 1994. The win was the team's 12th in a row, ending its regular season with a 17-5 record.

What was expected to hold little surprise for a Lion racquet squad that had dispatched the Tigers 5-1 last fall, opened surprisingly. C.U. lost the doubles point, all but bankable throughout the year, when its three tandems were downed by the feisty and fired-up New Jerseyans.

Salil Seshadri, CC'00, Lion co-captain and lone senior, struck back by evening the match at 1-1 with a straight sets triumph of his no. 3 singles opponent. Princeton then countered with a defeat of Lion no. 1 Akram Zaman, CC'01. That, however, would be the last point the visitors would get on the day. Co-captain and no. 2 Steve Millerman, CC'01, no. 4 Peter Holik, CC'03, and no. 5 Oscar Chow, CC'03, all collected their points to put the match out of the Tigers' reach. Donny Opici, CC'02, at no. 6, had his match, which was tied at one set each when Columbia's victory was secured, ended by coaches' agreement.

As the Ivy League's top team, Columbia receives an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, beginning May 12. Harvard, with a 6-1 record finished in second place in the League, and Princeton, at 5-2, finished third.