Miami Falls to No. 7 Columbia

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team (3-1) dropped its first match of the season against the No. 7 Columbia Lions (1-0), 4-0, in the first round of ITA Kickoff Weekend in the Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions earned back-to-back wins in doubles to gain the opening point. Max Westphal and Sachin Palta defeated Nacho Serra Sanchez and Leonardo Dal Boni, 2-6, on court two before Mehdi Sadaoui and Jules Garot fell, 3-6, to No. 75 Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman.

Antonio Prat and Martin Katz were up 5-4 on Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen at the top court.

On court six, newcomer Jules Garot dropped his first match as a Hurricane, 0-6, 0-6 to Thanaphat Boosarawongse, before Dal Boni fell, 1-6, 4-6, to No. 33 Hashimoto. Columbia advanced to the next round after Westphal took down Serra Sanchez, 6-2, 6-2, on court three.

No. 51 Katz was nearing a set two win, 2-6, 5-3, against No. 1 Zheng on the top court, Prat was up 7-5, 2-4, on No. 42 Kotzen at the No. 2 spot and Sadaoui was down 2-6, 4-3 to Palta on court five.

The Hurricanes will face Middle Tennessee tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the consolation round.