FORT WORTH, Texas — The No. 10 Columbia men's tennis team continued its three-match road trip on Wednesday evening, falling to the 10th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs, 4-1, at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
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The Lions fall to 9-2 on the season, with their only previous loss coming to top-ranked Wake Forest. TCU improves to 13-3 overall.
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From the get-go, it was a tightly-contested match with the doubles point going all the way to tiebreak to decide. The two teams would split the bottom courts, with
Victor Pham and
Rian Pandole claiming a 7-5 triumph at No. 3 doubles to get Columbia halfway there. Columbia's 11th-ranked tandem of
Jack Lin and
William Matheson went down to the wire on the top court, but ultimately fell 7-6 (5) to give TCU the early lead.
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The Horned Frogs continued the momentum into singles competition, claiming all six first sets, but Columbia would turn the tables around to win five-of-six second sets and keep the match alive. Despite some gritty performances, the Lions dropped courts one, two and three to give TCU the win.
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Sophmore
Austen Huang earned the Lions' lone point of the match, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles which brought the team tally to 2-1. Huang improves to an unblemished 8-0 record in dual matches in 2019.
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Senior
Timothy Wang was within striking distance, leading 3-6, 6-4, 5-1 as play was called off.
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Columbia will wrap up its Texas road trip on Friday, traveling to Austin, Texas, to take on the third-ranked Texas Longhorns. First serve is set for 7 p.m. ET.
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Agate
#12 Columbia 1, #10 TCU 4
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center – Fort Worth, Texas
March 20, 2019
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Singles (Order of Finish: 1-6-3-2)
1. #7 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #16
Jack Lin (CU) 6-1, 6-2
2. #25 Alastair Gray (TCU) def. #41
Victor Pham (CU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
3. Reese Stalder (TCU) def. #91
Adam Ambrozy (CU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
4. #115 Bertus Kruger (TCU) vs.
Rian Pandole (CU) 6-2, 5-7, 5-0, unfinished
5. Luc Fomba (TCU) vs.
Timothy Wang (CU) 6-3, 4-6, 1-5, unfinished
6.
Austen Huang (CU) def. Sander Jong (TCU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
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Doubles (Order of Finish: 2-3-1)
1. Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #12
Jack Lin/
William Matheson (CU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. #6 Reese Stalder/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def.
Adam Ambrozy/
Austen Huang (CU) 6-3
3.
Victor Pham/
Rian Pandole (CU) def. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU) 7-5
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For the latest on the Columbia men's tennis, followÂ
@ColumbiaMTennis on Twitter and on the web atÂ
GoColumbiaLions.com.
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