NEW YORK – Despite losing the doubles point of Sunday's match against No. 20 Michigan, the sixth-ranked Columbia men's tennis team rebounded with four singles victories to defeat the Wolverines, 4-1 on Sunday afternoon inside the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.
Columbia improves to 5-1 overall with the rebound victory following the tough loss to No. 2 Wake Forest on Saturday. The Lions will now prepare for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships starting Friday in Waco, Texas.
The doubles point went down to the wire to get the action started Sunday. Michigan's Mert Oral and Bjorn Swenson posted a 6-1 win over No. 62
Hugo Hashimoto and
Jayden Templeman in the No. 3 doubles to get things started. The 86
th-ranked Lion duo of Max Wesphal and
Sachin Palta leveled things with a 6-3 win against Will Cooksey and Nicholas Steiglehner in the No. 2 spot.
With all the attention on the top doubles match, No. 45
Michael Zheng and
Nicolas Kotzen battled back from down a break to force a tiebreaker with Michigan's Benjamin Kittay and Patorn Hanchaikul. The pairs went back and forth in an extended tiebraker before Kittay and Hanchaikul were able to secure a 7-6(9) victory to give Michigan the doubles point.
Columbia quickly stole the momentum from Michigan as the Lions took the first set in five of the six singles matches. Zheng, Hashimoto,
Thanaphat Boosarawongse and Palta went on to secure singles victories to lead the Lions to the 4-1 team victory.
No. 1 Zheng cruised past No. 87 Kittay in the top singles match, 6-3, 6-1 to level the team score. No. 41 Hashimoto followed that up with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 117 Hanchaikul in the No. 4 spot to put the Lions ahead for good.
Boosarawongse pulled the Lions within one point of the team victory as he defeated Oral, 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 6 singles. Palta battled through a second set tiebreaker to clinch the Columbia victory by defeating Steiglehner in the No. 5 spot, 7-5, 7-6(4).
RESULTS
#6 Columbia 4, #20 Michigan 1
Doubles
1. Benjamin Kittay/Patorn Hanchaikul (MICH) def. #45
Michael Zheng/
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) 7-6 (11-9)
2. #86
Max Westphal/
Sachin Palta (COL) def. Will Cooksey/Nicholas Steiglehner (MICH) 6-3
3. Mert Oral/Bjorn Swenson (MICH) def. #62
Hugo Hashimoto/
Jayden Templeman (COL) 6-1
Singles
1. #1
Michael Zheng (COL) def. #87 Benjamin Kittay (MICH) 6-3, 6-1
2. #40
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) vs. Will Cooksey (MICH) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, unfinished
3.
Max Westphal (COL) vs. Bjorn Swenson (MICH) 7-6 (7-5), 5-6, unfinished
4. #41
Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. #117 Patorn Hanchaikul (MICH) 6-2, 6-3
5.
Sachin Palta (COL) def. Nicholas Steiglehner (MICH) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
6. T. Boosarawongse (COL) def. Mert Oral (MICH) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,4,6,5)
UP NEXT
Columbia is back in action next weekend at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The bracket is set to be released early this next week as the field is stacked with some of the top ranked teams in college tennis. Columbia will begin competition on Friday, February 14 in Waco, Texas.
FOLLOWING THE LIONS
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