Posts Tagged ‘spring sports’
And you thought Linsanity was over…
Great news coming out of the men’s tennis team, as the Lions learned on Tuesday night they received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Ranked No. 42 in the country, it clearly would have been a great injustice to leave the Lions out of the 64-team tournament.
The Light Blue will begin its quest for a National Championship by squaring off against No. 31 VCU (22-4) in its first match next Saturday, May 12 at the University of Virginia.
Should the Lions win, they’ll face the winner of the match between Virginia (24-1) and Fairleigh Dickinson (15-8). The host school, Virginia, is the overall No. 3 seed in the tournament—but that’s why they play the matches. Just ask Duke.
Continue reading after the jump for an update.
She may hit the books hard, but Iani Alecsiu hits tennis balls even harder
Though she’s only a sophomore, Iani Alecsiu, CC ’14, has demanded on-court attention since her first appearance in the fall of 2010. The Bucharest, Romania native arrived at Columbia with numerous junior titles, such as the Romanian National Junior Team Champion in both 2007 and 2008, and she’s since lived up to her potential.
Alecsiu’s subtle wit shined through as she sat down to answer some questions for Spectrum. Want to know how she preps for the big match? Or have you ever noticed that she looks a lot like a certain celebrity?
Read on after the jump for the latest installment of “five questions” with this tennis sensation. More »
Lions finish the season by thrashing Penn’s pitching
The Lions closed out their season with a bang, taking three out of four games from the Penn Quakers to finish with a 21-24 overall record and a 12-8 record in Ivy play. Despite having the fourth-best record of all eight Ivy teams, the Lions finished in third place in the Lou Gehrig division, behind Cornell and Princeton.
It was a good season for the Lions, overall, as they finished with 20-plus wins for the third time in the last five seasons. Of course, the team would have preferred to be playing next weekend in the Ivy League Championship Series, but with so few Ivy contests, each one is so important to determining the eventual division winners. So with that, let’s take a look back on this past weekend with the final “three quick thoughts” of the season. More »
Wall-ball and good teammates have led to Johnson’s lacrosse success
This past week, Columbia College junior Kacie Johnson was named Ivy League Player of the Week for her routinely exceptional performance on Columbia’s lacrosse team. The Wilton, Conn. native may wear her hair in demure pigtails on the field, but this attacker has repeatedly lived up to her position’s name. With 42 games played, 108 goals, 70 assists, and 178 points scored along with All-Ivy League membership, Johnson is easily one of the most sensational lacrosse players at Columbia today.
Johnson recently sat down with Spectrum to answer a few questions. Want to know to what she attributes her lacrosse success? Or how about what athlete she’s dying to go out with?
Intrigued? Read after the jump for the latest installment of “five questions.” More »
Despite being eliminated from the division title, Lions make mincemeat out of the Princeton Tigers
Playing at home has been quite sweet for the Lions in Ivy play, as they won three out of four games this weekend against the Princeton Tigers. The three wins brought the Lions’ record to 17-22, 9-7 in Ivy play. In a way, the three wins avenged last year’s series with the Tigers, where Princeton took three out of the four games to take Columbia out of contention for the Lou Gehrig division title. In much the same way, the Light Blue’s three wins this weekend combined with Cornell’s three wins mean that Princeton will have to take all four from the Big Red next weekend to claim the division.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned Big Red wins also mean that the Lions have been eliminated from winning the division title. But regardless, it was great to see the Lions string those wins together after struggling at Cornell. So let’s go back over some of those highs of the weekend in this week’s “three quick thoughts.” More »
Do you get pumped up with dubstep like Ian Winthrop?
The Columbia men’s heavyweight rowing team could easily be described as the epitome of a sports team, and Columbia College senior Ian Winthrop is a deserving member of such a group. The Roxbury, Conn., native rowed on the Freshman Eights his first year and has since helped bring the heavyweights to the Eastern Sprints in 2010, with numerous other accomplishments for Columbia, as a member of the Varity Eights and Fours teams.
With his final year as a Columbia Lion coming to an end, Winthrop sat down with Spectrum at answer a few questions. Want to know his pump-up playlist? Or how old he would choose to be for the rest of his life?
Need to know? Read after the jump for the latest installment of “five questions” with this larger-than-life rower. More »
After dropping three out of four to Cornell, what’s next for the Lions?
Disappointment was the word of the weekend, as the Lions dropped three of their four games to the Cornell Big Red this weekend up in Ithaca. Despite strong starting pitching, the Lions’ bats weren’t able to heat up until late in the day on Sunday, rendering some of those great performances inconsequential.
The three wins pushed Cornell’s stellar Ivy record to 10-2, and dropped the Lions to 6-6—good for third place in the Lou Gehrig division. Now that it’s back to the drawing board, let’s take a look-see at what happened the last few days and what it means for the Lions going forward in this week’s “three quick thoughts.” More »
Just like the weather, everyone seems to be heating up this week
The weather is heating up, prospective students are coming in to checkout the campus, and, all-in-all, Columbia athletics is doing well. So for this week, it’s a very optimistic look at things as everybody’s “hot”—and not “not.”
Who’s Hot?
Tennis: Any team that has won 12 straight is good. Any team that does that by beating Harvard is even better. Any team that does that and commandingly defeats the #67 team in the country and then upsets the #20 team in the country is the best.
What team am I talking about? Men’s tennis!
This Light Blue team is on a roll and after two 5-2 victories against No. 67 Dartmouth and No. 20 Harvard, respectively, the Light Blue are emerging as the team to beat in the Ivy League this season. Columbia, who came into the match against Harvard ranked #50, can expect to see their stock rising as they look to continue their winning streak against Yale and Brown this weekend. More »
Lions to face tough matchup this weekend, but should be up for the task
As the baseball team heads into divisional play this weekend, its four games against Cornell have the utmost importance. As it currently stands, the Big Red is in first place in the Lou Gehrig division with a scorching 7-1 record in Ivy play, while the Lions are tied for third place with a 5-3 mark.
With still 12 games left in Ivy play, it’s probably a little premature to say this upcoming series in Ithaca is “make or break” for the Lions. But with only 20 games to decide the winner of the division, every single game is important. And with the way Cornell has played so far this season, winning this series could go a very long way.
So yes, Cornell may have a 21-6-1 overall record, but I believe the Lions have the tools to put together three or four wins this weekend. More »
Men’s tennis brings national ranking up from No. 50 to No. 37
Big news from the men’s tennis team today. Fresh off their thrilling defeats over No. 67 Dartmouth and No. 20 ranked Harvard this weekend, the Lions vaulted in the National Team Rankings from No. 50 to No. 37. The pair of victories brought the Lions win streak to 12 straight matches—a great feat in the very competitive Ivy League.
The Lions victories also dropped Harvard from No. 20 to No. 24, but brought up Dartmouth from No. 67 to No. 62. One of those principles of transitivity, I suppose.
Individually, as expected senior Haig Schneiderman dropped to No. 96 from his No. 86 ranking, after being defeated by Crimson freshman Dennis Nguyen on Sunday.
However, somehow lost in the rankings shuffle was freshman Winston Lin. Lin has been nothing short of #linsane in his first year as a Lion, going 17-1 so far this spring season. In the last individual rankings that came out on March 27, Lin was No. 102. Now that he’s won 15 consecutive matches, his ranking should have gone up, right? More »