Michael Zheng becomes first Ivy League player to win NCAA men's singles title since 1922
Dasha Vidmanova also broke new ground for her school as Georgia's first national champion in both singles and doubles.
On Sunday, the fall debut of the individual NCAA tennis championships wrapped up with a history-making run in Waco, Texas.
Six months after falling one win short of raising the trophy, Columbia University’s Michael Zheng became the first man representing an Ivy League school to win a singles title in 102 years.
The junior from Montville, N.J. fended off Michigan State’s Ozan Baris, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, to win the first NCAA men’s singles final between two American competitors since 2017. After splitting sets, Zheng regrouped with an immediate break in the decider before running away with the victory.
The 20-year-old’s familiarity of playing for a national championship this past May made the difference.
“I think that experience in Stillwater (Oklahoma) helped me a lot. It was really motivating to just compete and build again after that loss. It really paid off at these championships,” reflected Zheng after clinching his school’s first men’s singles title since 1906.
“It's still a little bit of a surreal feeling, but I'm just happy, really happy right now.”
Zheng capped a special 24 hours for Columbia away from the classroom. The program’s football team earlier clinched its first Ivy League crown in 63 years after Yale edged Harvard.
“It was amazing once we found out they also won. Columbia is more than just an academic sports school. A great weekend for the Lions,” he said.
In a windy NCAA women’s singles final, University of Georgia star Dasha Vidmanova added another piece of hardware to her collection.
The senior denied DJ Bennett of Auburn University, 6-3, 6-3, to claim the all-SEC showdown. Last season, Vidmanova captured the women’s doubles crown with Aysegul Mert and is now the first Bulldog to ever hold titles in both events.
“Singles was definitely one of the goals for this year. I’m really happy to achieve it for myself, for Georgia. I know it means a lot,” the Czech said in a press conference.
The NCAA team championships will be held from May 15-18, 2025, with the Hurd Tennis Center returning as hosts. The splitting of the individual and team events into different semesters is the start of a two-year pilot program aimed at improving student-athlete well-being.