SYRACUSE, N.Y.—The Columbia women's tennis team notched a victory over its highest-ranked opponent in school history Friday evening as it defeated No. 25 Syracuse 4-2 at Drumlins Country Club.
 
The victory marked Columbia's sixth in a row as the Lions improved to 8-2 in dual matches on the season. Columbia is a perfect 6-0 in February.
 
The Lions handed No. 25 Syracuse its first loss of the year as the Orange drops to 6-1.
 
Columbia quickly took control of the match as it claimed the doubles point. Syracuse's Kim Hansen and Sofya Treshcheva first won a 6-1 decision over Columbia sophomore Melissa Sakar and first-year Julia Haynes at No. 2 doubles. But the Lions answered with back-to-back victories to take the 1-0 lead as junior Jennifer Kerr and first-year Shivani Amineni rallied to defeat Sofya Golubovskaya and Zeynep Eman 6-4 at No. 3 doubles. Sophomore Akanksha Bhan and junior Paulina Ferrari clinched the point with a 6-4 win over Syracuse's Miranda Ramirez and Guzal Yusupova at No. 3 doubles.
 
In singles, the Lions went up 2-0 when Syracuse's Sofya Golubovskaya retired after Sakar led 6-2. Sakar won her 20^th match of the season and improves to an incredible 20-2 on the year. Syracuse's Miranda Ramirez closed the deficit to 2-1 after a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles over Kerr. Then Syracuse's Kim Hansen tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Columbia first-year Michelle Xu at No. 5 singles.
 
But the Lions were determined to win on the road. Bhan rallied to win a 7-5, 6-3 match over Syracuse's Yusupova at No. 1 singles. Yusupova entered the match as the nation's No. 77 ranked player. The nation's No. 102 ranked player, Bhan improved to 16-7 on the year. Then, first-year Shivani Amineni won a hard-fought 7-6 (7-0), 7-5 victory over Treshcheva at No. 4 singles to clinch the win for Columbia. Amineni, who is 16-4 on the year, clinched her second victory of the year, following Columbia's ECAC Championship 4-3 victory over Yale.

"I am very happy for my players, who since the ITA Kick-Off event at the beginning of the season, have come together in a special way to hold themselves to a higher standard," Columbia Head Coach Ilene Weintraub said. "This historic win is a direct result of those team standards and chemistry. They earned it and they deserve it. We have a quick turnaround and look forward to another competitive match on Sunday vs. No. 34 Washington State at home. Come out and support!"
 
Previously, Columbia defeated No. 30 Dartmouth in 2015.
 
The match marked Columbia's second of the week as Columbia is back in action on Sunday when it hosts No. 34 Washington State on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Dick Savitt Tennis Center.