NEW YORK – The 10^th-ranked Columbia men's tennis team used a strong performance up and down the doubles and singles lineups to earn a 4-1 win over No. 7 Tennessee on Friday night at the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.
 
The win marks Columbia's first top-10 victory since defeating No. 9 Baylor during the 2019 ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago. Columbia improves to 5-1 overall this season and now leads the overall series against Tennessee, 3-2.
 
"Any time you beat a team of (Tennessee's) caliber, it makes you feel like all the work we have been putting in is worthwhile," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman said. "There are a lot of really good teams. The margins are really close. We just played NC State and were down, 3-0. Here we were up, 3-0 and Tennessee was coming back. Our guys should be really proud about how they competed against a really top-level program like Tennessee."
 
Columbia stole the momentum early with a strong doubles attack. Theo Winegar and Michael Zheng worked together to earn a top-10 victory in the top doubles. The 24^th-ranked duo of Nicolas Kotzen and Max Westphal closed out doubles with a win in the No. 2 spot to help Columbia become the first team this season to win the doubles point against Tennessee.
 
Winegar and Zheng wasted no time as they rolled to take an impressive 6-2 win over No. 9 Angel Diaz and Johannus Monday in the No. 1 doubles. On the next court over, No. 24 Nicolas Kotzen and Westphal worked to fend off a comeback attempt from No. 28 Shunsuke Mitsui and Filip Pieczonka. Nicolas Kotzen and Westphal prevailed in a 6-4 victory to put Columbia up, 1-0 to start the dual match.
 
"We knew we had to ready from the beginning," Westphal said. "We had really good energy. We were jumping around trying to serve well and return well. I think we were just more prepared than them in this environment. We knew we could beat (Tennessee) in the doubles point and in singles, and I'm really happy we did it."
 
Sachin Palta and Alex Kotzen paired up in the No. 3 spot. The duo played a back-and-forth match with Filip Apltauer and Younes Lalami. The match went unfinished with Alex Kotzen and Palta leading, 6-5.
 
"Tennessee historically has always had some of the best doubles in the country, so to come out here and take the doubles point off three really good doubles pairs they have, I was really pleased by that," Endelman said. "The thing about Tennessee is you know they are not going to give you any free points on a doubles court. I was really pleased how our guys withstood it and rose to that challenge."
 
The Lions carried the early momentum over into singles play to grab a 3-0 advantage. Westphal worked quick to earn Columbia's first singles victory of the match. He took a 6-3, 6-1 win over Lalami in the No. 4 singles.
 
No. 101 Alex Kotzen followed that up with a strong, 6-2, 6-1 upset win over 16^th-ranked Shunsuke Mitsui in the No. 2 singles.
 
Tennessee picked up its first win of the match in the top singles. No. 9 Johannus Monday posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over 15^th-ranked Zheng.
 
Looking to close out the win for Columbia, Nicolas Kotzen went back and forth with No. 66 Pieczonka in the No. 3 spot. The two played to the tiebreaker in the first set, where Kotzen prevailed, 7-1 to claim the set. The two reached the tiebreaker again the second set and played a tight series of points with the match on the line. Kotzen had to withstand several set points, but he was able to get a break and come out on top in the tiebreaker, 12-10 to finish with a 7-6(1), 7-6(10) win over No. 66 Pieczonka.
 
"I was just thinking about what I had to do in the point in front of me," Nicolas Kotzen said. "Just going point by point and that way not thinking about the stakes, the crowd, or my opponent and just doing what I could to control it."
 
UP NEXT
Columbia closes out the weekend by hosting Penn State on Sunday at the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
RESULTS
#10 Columbia 4, #7 Tennessee 1
 
Singles
1. #9 Johannus Monday (TENN) def. #15 Michael Zheng (COL) 6-4, 6-2
2. #101 Alex Kotzen (COL) def. #16 Shunsuke Mitsui (TENN) 6-2, 6-1
3. Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. #66 Filip Pieczonka (TENN) 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (12-10)
4. Max Westphal (COL) def. Younes Lalami (TENN) 6-3, 6-1
5. Hugo Hashimoto (COL) vs. Filip Apltauer (TENN) 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 1-0 (unfinished)
6. Sachin Palta (COL) vs. Angel Diaz (TENN) 4-6, 7-5, 4-3 (unfinished)
 
Doubles
1. Theo Winegar/Michael Zheng (COL) def. #9 Angel Diaz/Johannus Monday (TENN) 6-2
2. #24 Nicolas Kotzen/Max Westphal (COL) def. #28 Shunsuke Mitsui/Filip Pieczonka (TENN) 6-4 3. Sachin Palta/Alex Kotzen (COL) vs. Filip Apltauer/Younes Lalami (TENN) 6-5 (unfinished)
 
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,2,1,3)

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