Knoxville, TN -- The Columbia men's tennis team went toe to toe with SEC powerhouse, #2 Tennessee, forcing the match-clinching forth point to come from the final singles competitors. Despite dropping the match 3-4, the Lions contended with one of the nation's top programs, taking the doubles point from the Volunteers' defending national champions while collecting a pair of singles victories over ranked opponents. Tennessee concluded its 2021 campaign in the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Team Championships.
From the top doubles spot, first-year
Max Westphal and sophomore
Theo Winegar defeated 2021 NCAA Doubles National Champions Adam Walton and Pat Harper. Westphal and Winegar defeated the former No. 1 team, 7-5. With the doubles point on the line, first-year
Jayden Templeman and sophomore teammate
Henry Ruger toppled Johannus Monday and Connor Gannon, 7-5, after saving the match point down 4-5. Templeman held the serve through the remainder of the match to put Columbia up to an early 1-0 advantage.
Tennessee rebounded in singles, capturing its first point of the day from the second spot as #10 Johannus Monday defeated #77
Hugo Hashimoto in straight sets. #114 Shunsuke Mitsui pulled the Volunteers ahead, 2-1, with a straight set victory over Ruger.
Columbia's #8
Alex Kotzen leveled the score at 2-2 with a win over #21 Adam Walton. Kotzen collected a straight-sets victory 6-4, 6-4, from the top spot. Once again, the Lions pulled ahead as senior
Austen Huang battled past #78 Mark Wallner. Huang took the first set 7-5, before ceding the second to Wallner, 5-7. Undeterred, Huang powered to 6-2 third set moving Columbia to 3-2.
Following #100 Emile Hudd's close victory over sophomore
Roko Horvat (3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1), Columbia and Tennessee stood at a 3-3 standstill, with one match left to play. In the third position, Tennesse's . #122 Angel Diaz took a tightly-contested first set from Westphal 7-6, winning the tiebreaker point 10-8. Westphal proceeded to force another tiebreaker in the second set, this time coming away with the win 7-6 (7-2). With the clinching point on the line Diaz overpowered the rookie 6-2, securing the match for both himself and the Volunteers.
Next up, Columbia will compete at the ECAC Men's Indoor Championships from Feb. 18-20 alongside the entirety of the Ivy League men's tennis collective.
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