KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 18 Columbia men's tennis team opened up the season and ITA Kickoff Weekend in exciting fashion, posting a 4-0 shutout victory over No. 14 Oklahoma State at the Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lions will advance to face the winner of No. 16 Tennessee vs. No. 25 Arizona State on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for a chance to qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the third-straight year.
 
The victory also marked the first career dual match win for first-year Columbia head coach Howard Endelman '87CC, who took over the helm after nine seasons as an assistant coach for the program.  
 
"I thought the guys came out with terrific energy from the beginning," said Endelman after the match. "To go out and beat the No. 1 doubles team in the country, get the doubles point, and then beat a team like Oklahoma State in the first dual match of the season, a perennial top-15 Big 12 program, it really shows a lot about our guys. In those moments when there was some adversity and Oklahoma State was very tough in those first sets, our guys really stayed disciplined and competed really well, didn't back down from any of it. Really good job overall."

Opening doubles play was highly competitive between the two squads, but the Lions came out with the upper hand after taking courts one and three. On the bottom court, Adam Ambrozy/Jason Lui helped get halfway there with a swift 6-2 triumph. Oklahoma State (3-1) picked up a win of their own as Alex Kotzen/Rian Pandole fell to No. 19 Emile Hudd/Luke Hammond, 6-4, on court two. It came down to the top court, where a top-five battled ensued, but No. 3 Jack Lin/Jackie Tang handled business, downed the nation's top-ranked duo to seal the early lead.
 
Coming out strong by winning the first set on 4-of-6 singles courts, it was 79th-ranked first-year Kotzen who doubled the lead with a straight-sets victory at four singles.
 
After trailing 3-4 in the first set, sixth-ranked Lin rallied to win the first stanza over No. 41 Matej Vocel, 6-4, and went on to dominantly claim the second set, 6-1, and pull the Lions within one of the team victory.
 
Junior Austen Huang finished the job at six singles, grinding out a 7-5, 6-4, win over Oklahoma State's Brady Draheim.
 
As play was halted, 73rd-ranked Tang led 6-4, 5-3, over No. 91 Dominik Kellovsky on court two, while Pandole also held a 1-0 third-set advantage over No. 87 Emile Hudd on court three.

For the latest on the Columbia men's tennis, follow @ColumbiaMTennis on Twitter and Instagram, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.