MADISON, Wis. — In the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, No. 9 Columbia men's tennis team fell, 4-0, to No. 3 Florida at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday afternoon.
 
The 12th-seeded Lions fall to 3-2 on the young season, while No. 5-seed Florida improves to 10-1 overall.
 
Against a Gators team which features a pair of top-25 tandems, Columbia switched up its doubles lineup, but Florida pulled through with wins on courts one and three. On court two, Adam Ambrozy and Rian Pandole were serving to tie the match at 6-all against No. 24 Will Grant/Johannes Ingildsen when play was ceased.
 
Heading into singles, the Lions would once again face a tough task with Florida's top three players ranked in the top-25 nationally. Florida doubled its lead as No. 109 Jackie Tang dropped in straight sets to fourth-ranked Sam Riffice on court two. Pandole was defeated by No. 11 Duarte Vale, 6-3, 6-1, at three singles, and No. 23 Oliver Crawford downed No. 20 Jack Lin, 6-1, 6-4 to seal the match.
 
First-year Alex Kotzen was the lone Lion to win his first set, while junior Austen Huang also battled back to force a third set at six singles before play was called off.
 
Columbia will look to bounce back on Saturday, taking on No. 14 South Carolina at 3:30 p.m. CT. The Gamecocks fell, 4-2, to No. 5 North Carolina on Friday.

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