NEW YORK – The Columbia men's tennis team bounced back with a strong performance Saturday night to take a 4-0 win over 16^th-seeded Alabama at the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.
 
Columbia concludes the 2024 ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a 6:30 p.m. match against 13^th-seeded Duke on Sunday.
 
The Lions (7-2) have now defeated Alabama in back-to-back seasons after posting a 7-0 win in Tuscaloosa last February.
 
Columbia battled down the stretch in doubles play to earn wins in the No. 1 and 3 spots. Theo Winegar and Michael Zheng picked up a key break to go up, 5-4. The pair then finished off a 6-4 win over Enzo Aguiard and Zach Foster in the top doubles match.
 
"I was really proud of the guys for winning an extremely difficult doubles point off an Alabama team that won the doubles the night before against Ohio State," Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman said. "Once we won the doubles point, we came out and got up a break on five out of six courts in singles. Then when we got the first set, we kept going and we were tough to beat every point."
 
Alex Kotzen and Sachin Palta went the distance and forced a tiebreaker in the No. 3 spot against Alabama's Matic Dimic and Roan Jones. Kotzen and Palta pulled away in the tiebreaker to take a 7-6(4) win to seal the doubles point for the Lions.
 
The 24^th-ranked duo of Max Westphal and Nicolas Kotzen played a gutsy match in the No. 2 doubles. The pair found themselves trailing, 5-2 to No. 45 Filip Planinsek and Andrii Zimnokh before storming back to force a tiebreaker. The match was abandoned at the 6-6(5-5) mark when the Lions clinched the doubles point.
 
Henry Ruger extended the Columbia lead to 2-0 to start singles play with a dominant, 6-0, 6-1 win over Foster in the No. 6 singles.
 
Hugo Hashimoto followed with a 6-3, 7-5 win against Jones in the No. 5 singles. Hashimoto used a late break to claim the second set.
 
Nicolas Kotzen closed out the match with a strong, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Matias Ponce De Leon in the No. 3 spot to clinch Columbia's 4-0 win.
 
RESULTS
#10 Columbia 4, #21 Alabama 0 (ITA Rankings)
 
Singles
1. #15 Michael Zheng (COL) vs. #53 Filip Planinsek (ALA), 6-2, 3-6, 2-1 (unfinished)
2. #101 Alex Kotzen (COL) vs. Enzo Aguiard (ALA), 6-3, 4-3 (unfinished)
3. Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. Matias Ponce De Leon (ALA), 6-4, 6-1
4. Max Westphal (COL) vs. Andrii Zimnokh (ALA), 6-7(5), 3-3 (unfinished)
5. Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. Roan Jones (ALA), 6-3, 7-5
6. Henry Ruger (COL) def. Zach Foster (ALA), 6-0, 6-1
 
Doubles
1. Theo Winegar/Michael Zheng (COL) def. Enzo Aguiard/Zach Foster (ALA), 6-4
2  #24 Max Westphal/Nicolas Kotzen (COL) vs. #45 Filip Planinsek/Andrii Zimnokh (ALA), 6-6(5-5), Unfinished
3. Alex Kotzen/Sachin Palta (COL) def. Matic Dimic/Roan Jones (ALA), 7-6(4)
 
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,5,3)
 
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