WACO, Texas – The sixth-ranked Columbia men's tennis team registered its first top 10 victory of the season on Sunday night by defeating No. 7 Duke, 4-1 in the final match of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Columbia salvaged its trip to Waco by earning its highest ranked win of the season Sunday night in a dominant performance against seventh-ranked Duke. The win marks back-to-back seasons Columbia has defeated a top 10 opponent after the Lions defeated No. 7 Tennessee and No. 9 Arizona last season. Columbia also closed out an extremely tough slate of six straight matches against top 25 opponents since February 2. The Lions posted a 3-3 record in that span.
The Lions found their footing in doubles for the first time this weekend with wins in the two and three spots to clinch the doubles point. The No. 62 duo of
Hugo Hashimoto and
Jayden Templeman earned a 6-3 win over Connor Krug and Teddy Truwit in the No. 3 doubles. 86
th-ranked
Max Westphal and
Sachin Palta clinched the doubles point for the Lions by earning a quality win over No. 63 Cooper Williams and Andreja Petrovic, 7-5 in the No. 2 position.
Columbia carried its momentum over to singles play to finish off the 4-1 victory. Duke briefly tied the team score with a victory in the six singles. However, No. 1
Michael Zheng, No. 40
Nicolas Kotzen and Palta posted three straight singles victories for the Lions to clinch the team victory.
Top-ranked Zheng turned in Columbia's first singles victory of the night with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 58 Williams in the top singles match. No. 40 Kotzen followed that up with a 6-4, 6-4 win against No. 39 Rodenas in the No. 2 spot. Palta clinched the Columbia victory with a 6-3, 7-6(1) win over Gerard Planelles Ripoll in the No. 5 singles.
RESULTS
#6 Columbia 4, #7 Duke 1
Doubles
1. Pedro Rodenas/
Theo Winegar (DU) def. #45
Michael Zheng/
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) 6-4
2. #86
Max Westphal/
Sachin Palta (COL) def. #63 Cooper Williams/Andreja Petrovic (DU) 7-5
3. #62
Hugo Hashimoto/
Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Connor Krug/Teddy Truwit (DU) 6-3
Singles
1. #1
Michael Zheng (COL) def. #58 Cooper Williams (DU) 6-3, 6-2
2. #40
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) def. #39 Pedro Rodenas (DU) 6-4, 6-4
3.
Max Westphal (COL) vs. Andreja Petrovic (DU) 6-7(5), 6-3, 2-2 (unfinished)
4. #41
Hugo Hashimoto (COL) vs. Connor Krug (DU) 2-6, 6-3, 3-5 (unfinished)
5.
Sachin Palta (COL) def. Gerard Planelles Ripoll (DU) 6-3, 7-6(1)
6. Remi Dugardin (DU) def.
Thanaphat Boosarawongse (COL) 6-1, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,1,2,5)
UP NEXT
Columbia has a break in action before returning to the Milstein Family Tennis Center to host Tulsa on Friday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m.
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