NEW YORK — The No. 9 Columbia men's tennis team continued its strong start to the dual season, taking down the visiting SMU Mustangs, 6-1, at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, Columbia moves to 7-1 on the season, including an unblemished 5-0 record at home. SMU falls to 8-7 overall.
 
"It was a tough doubles' point and we were fortunate to win the tiebreaker at (court) one," said Columbia Tennis Alumni and Friends Head Coach of Men's Tennis Bid Goswami after the match. "That gave us the momentum, and then the three singles matches finished quite fast. We will have to play better doubles tomorrow against a tough Tulane team."
 
It was a closely-contested doubles point to start the action, with the top court lasting nearly an hour and going all the way to tiebreak. At No. 3 doubles, Columbia's duo of Rian Pandole and Victor Pham quickly picked up a 6-1 triumph to get the Lions halfway there. SMU would equalize with a victory of their own on court two as William Matheson and Adam Ambrozy fell, 6-3. On the No. 1 court, the two teams traded games all the way until the end, but 12^th-ranked Jack Lin and Jackie Tang prevailed with a 7-6 (4) win to give Columbia the early lead.
 
From there, the Lions rattled off three-straight singles wins in straight sets to clinch the team win. After Pandole topped SMU's Michael Smith, 6-1, 6-1, on court five, No. 54 Pham earned a huge 6-0, 6-0, triumph over No. 50 Carles Sarrio. Senior Timothy Wang put the match away with a 6-0, 6-1 victory on court six.
 
The Mustangs would get on the board as Lin fell to Jan-Simon Vrbsky at No. 2 singles.
 
Closing things out, both Tang and Ambrozy would take their matches to tiebreak as the Lions came up on the winning end of both.
 
The Lions will turn right back around to face No. 39 Tulane on Sunday in New York. First serve is set for 1 p.m. ET.
 
For the latest on the Columbia men's tennis, follow @ColumbiaMTennis on Twitter and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.