WEST HARRISON, N.Y. — In a high-intensity match that would take every last court, the No. 9 Columbia men's tennis team dropped its first dual match of the season, falling to No. 13 Michigan, 4-3, on Sunday evening at Life Time Athletic Club in West Harrison, New York.
 
Columbia moves to 3-1 overall in dual matches, with all four of its matches coming against teams that advanced to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament a season ago and three of which have been against top-20 foes. Michigan rises to 8-1 overall.
 
"I'm very proud of the guys who kept on fighting regardless of what the score was," said Columbia head coach Howard Endelman after the match. "I think that Michigan did a great job from the first point of doubles of playing with tremendous energy. Once we were able to match that energy, which was probably the middle of the first sets of singles, then we really had it going well.
 
"Overall, I was really proud of the effort-level and the toughness of our team. This is the kind of match that helps you get better as long as you look at it in a positive manner. We're making a lot of progress and getting better all the time, and this is the kind of match that, although it really hurts a lot, this is the kind of match that can make our program better in the long run."
 
For the first time this season, the Lions were bested in doubles play as the Wolverines claimed the early 1-0 advantage. First, the Lions' two-team of Alex Kotzen and Austen Huang were defeated by No. 42 Ondrej Styler/Connor Johnston, 6-3. The remaining two courts were extremely close, but the top-five matchup between No. 5 Jack Lin/Jackie Tang and No. 4 Andrew Fenty/Mattias Siimar saw Michigan come out on top, 7-5.
 
"We didn't play as well as we might've liked in doubles, and that's an all-important point," said Endelman. "That was one of the big deciders in this match today, because after the doubles it was totally even and we split the singles. You just can't give up the doubles point that easily to a top-10 team. They're going to make you pay for it and that's exactly what happened."
 
Defeating his first ranked foe of the dual season, junior Austen Huang would equalize the match with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph on court six over No. 96 Patrick Maloney. Michigan regained the lead when 43rd-ranked Styler got past No. 109 Tang, 6-4, 6-4, at two singles. The Wolverines stretched their lead to 3-1 as Adam Ambrozy fell in a thrilling three-set contest on court four, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
 
Columbia would claw its way back with back-to-back three-set victories from Rian Pandole and No. 99 Kotzen. Pandole picked up a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Siimar, before Kotzen battled his way through multiple tiebreaks to win, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (5).
 
With the match all tied up at 3-3, it would boil down to No. 1 singles where 20th-ranked Lin and 48th-ranked Fenty were also knotted up at 3-all in the third set, but Fenty would claim three-straight games to ultimately clinch the match.
 
"We're just going to keep fighting and keep focusing on improvements," said Endelman. "A lot of really, really good things came out of this match. It was extremely impressive what the players did to just keep on fighting when the adversity came. We talk about it all the time, the key is to try to capitalize on those momentum shifts and take it your way. This was one of those days, it just went the other way and Michigan deserved it in several ways."
 
Columbia will look to bounce back next weekend, traveling to Madison, Wisconsin, for the prestigious 16-team ITA National Team Indoor Championship, hosted by the Wisconsin Badgers.

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