Tennis’ Bartnik headed to Nationals

The road to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships is coming to a close this weekend, as junior Nicole Bartnik, sophomore Bianca Sanon, and freshman Crystal Leung make their way to the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.

This tournament will feature 32 of the best collegiate varsity tennis players from across the country. Only the winners of the ITA Regional Championships, the ITA National Small College Championships, and the ITA All-American Championships are entered into the singles draw. Players from Division I, II, and III schools will all be competing for the same title.

Bartnik won her bid to the National Indoors at the Northeast ITA Regionals, where she only lost one set in all five of her winning matches. “I felt really good after last weekend,” Bartnik said. She played with great consistency throughout Regionals. “I was moving really well.”

Originally seeded No. 3 in the Regionals competition, Bartnik had a bye in the first round. In the second round, she topped Nina Mayevska of New Jersey Institute of Technology 6-2, 6-4 before advancing to face Boston University’s Vivien Laszloffy, who Bartnik beat 6-3, 6-1. In order to advance to the semi-finals, Bartnik needed to defeat Yale’s Blair Seideman. The first set against Seideman was the only one that appeared to give Bartnik a problem during Regionals. She dropped the first set 4-6 but went on to win the next sets 6-3, 6-2.

In the semifinals, Bartnik beat Hanna Yu of Yale 6-1, 6-2. Facing her third Bulldog, Bartnik played Elizabeth Epstein and won 6-4, 6-3. By winning all five of her matches and clinching the tournament title, Bartnik became the first player in the Columbia women’s tennis program’s history to accomplish the feat.

“I was happy to qualify on my own,” Bartnik said on winning her bid to the National Indoors.

As the host school, Columbia gets two at-large bids for the tournament. Bartnik will be pairing up with Leung in the twenty-team doubles draw, and Sanon will be entering the tournament in the singles draw.

All three Lions are trying to look at the National Indoors as just another tournament. “It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side,” Sanon said of possible opponents.
The three will compete at the National Tennis Center from November 3-6, concluding the Columbia women’s tennis team’s fall season.