Lions Travel to Face Top-Seeded Ohio State Saturday in NCAA Super Regional

NEW YORK — Postseason play continues Saturday for the No. 16 seed Columbia men's tennis team, hitting the road to face No. 1 overall seed Ohio State in the NCAA Championship super regional in Columbus, Ohio at 1 p.m. ET. The 2019 season marks the first year of the super-regional format, as the round of 16 was previously contested at the championship site. The winner of Saturday's bout will earn its trip to the USTA National Campus in Orlando where the remaining matches will be played as well as the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships. Columbia (19-3, 7-0 Ivy League) advances to the super regional after taking down both Bryant and No. 34 Penn State, 4-0, in the first and second rounds in New York. Riding a 10-match win streak, the Lions mare making their second-consecutive and fourth-ever trip to the Sweet 16, all four of which have occurred in the last six years after accomplishing the feat for the first time in 2014. The Lions are coming off their sixth-straight Ivy League title, having won the crown outright after recording an unbeaten record in conference play. Columbia started off the season with a trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, qualifying for the 16-team event for the fourth time in five years. Despite falling to top-ranked Wake Forest in the opening match, Columbia bounced back with two big wins over then-No. 11 Notre Dame and then-No. 9. Baylor. Columbia capped off the regular season with an unblemished 12-0 mark at home inside the Dick Savitt Tennis Center, including the 4-0 victory over Penn State in the NCAA second round last Saturday. The Lions' only three losses of the 2019 campaign came on the road to teams ranked inside the top 10 of the ITA standings. All three of those teams (Wake Forest, Texas and TCU) are still competing in NCAA action this season after earning top-10 seeds.