Tulsa Falls to No. 8 Columbia

Friday, February 28

New York City, N.Y.

5:30 p.m.

Tulsa

Columbia

Photo by: Alina Lebedeva

Tulsa Falls to No. 8 Columbia

2/28/2025 9:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The Tulsa men's tennis team took on one of the nation's premier college tennis squads in Columbia Friday night, falling 7-0 to the nation's eighth-ranked Lions in New York City. The Golden Hurricane dropped to 7-8 on the season.

The doubles point came down to the No. 3 position after Columbia claimed the top spot, 6-2, and Tulsa's Gus Tettamble and Luis Felipe Miguel prevailed 6-4 in the No. 2 spot. Redshirt junior Will Pellegrini and redshirt freshman Calum Jestin fought hard to stay alive, but their Lion opponents would win 6-4 to earn Columbia the opening score of the night.

After Columbia had gone ahead 3-0 by taking courts two and six in straight sets, Tulsa's remaining four players all reached a third set in their respective positions. Sophomore Alex Okonkwo faced the country's No. 1-ranked player, Michael Zheng, atop the lineup and hung in with the 2024-25 NCAA singles champion. Zheng's talent would help him come out on top in the end of a long three-set battle.

Sophomore Timothy Carlsson Seger and freshman Nikola Puntraric also faced ranked opponents in the third and fourth positions, respectively, and lasted three full sets.

Columbia would go on to win all remaining matches after both teams elected to finish out the day's action.

The Tulsa men will remain on the east coast to take on No. Princeton (11-4) on Sunday, March 2 at 11 a.m.

Doubles
1. #48 Michael Zheng/Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. Alex Okonkwo/Timothy Seger (TUL) 6-2
2. Gus Tettamble/Luis Felipe Miguel (TUL) def. Max Westphal/Sachin Palta (COL) 6-4
3. Hugo Hashimoto/Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Will Pellegrini/Calum Jestin (TUL) 6-4

Singles
1. #1 Michael Zheng (COL) def. Alex Okonkwo (TUL) 6-4, 6-7(1-7), 6-2
2. #36 Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. Luis Felipe Miguel (TUL) 7-5, 6-3
3. #116 Max Westphal (COL) def. Timothy Seger (TUL) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
4. #50 Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. Nikola Puntaric (TUL) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
5. Thanaphat Boosarawongse (COL) def. Reiya Komagata (TUL) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
6. Sachin Palta (COL) def. Gus Tettamble (TUL) 6-2, 7-6(7-5)

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (2,6,4,3,1,5)