NEW YORK — The No. 10 Columbia men's tennis team earned its third-straight win, shutting out No. 43 Northwestern, 7-0, at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Lions move to 6-1 on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 8-6 overall.
 
"Northwestern is a really solid team," said Columbia Tennis Alumni and Friends Head Coach of Men's Tennis, Bid Goswami. "They're very well coached by both Chris (Klingemann) and Arvid (Swan). They came to beat us. They came in two days early and practiced twice and we competed well."
 
Both teams came out strong in a tightly-contested doubles battle. After Rian Pandole and Victor Pham teamed up for a 6-2 win at the three spot, the remaining two courts went all the way to tiebreak. In the end, the Lions came away with the early lead as Columbia's top tandem of No. 12 Jack Lin and Jackie Tang earned a 7-6 (3) triumph. On court two, Adam Ambrozy and William Matheson were about to begin a tiebreak as play ceased.
 
"The doubles were very close," added Goswami. "Winning the doubles point gave us some momentum and all the guys played pretty well. I remember losing to Northwestern in 2015. We had a really good team with Winston (Lin) at No. 1. We were up 3-1, and they won three tiebreakers to win the match. We had beaten a lot of good teams that year. We play them again at home next year and I think it'll be a really good match. So, 7-0 today is not a true indication."
 
Strong play for both teams continued into singles, but the Lions' grit and determination landed them on the winning side of all six courts. Two matches went to a third set, while two courts needed tiebreaks to decide.
 
After being ranked No. 10 in the nation this week, Lin was the first to win his singles match, earning a 6-2, 6-2 decision on court two. Tang, ranked No. 89, extended Columbia's lead to three after winning in straight sets at the three spot. Pham clinched the team victory at No. 1 singles, taking down Northwestern's Dominik Stary, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
 
The Lions will be back in action at home next weekend, taking on SMU on Saturday at 11 a.m. before facing Tulane at 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
"I think they are believing in themselves," said Goswami. "I was preaching the whole time that this is a really important match and Tulane will be the same. Tulane was at National Indoors last week. They lost all three matches, but they're a really good team. Tulane will be a dog fight, so I'm looking forward to next week."
 
For the latest on the Columbia men's tennis, follow @ColumbiaMTennis on Twitter and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.