The Columbia men’s and women’s tennis teams continued their strong fall campaigns with solid showings across the board at the Farnsworth Invitational for the men and the Cissie Leary Invitational for the women.

The men traveled to Princeton and competed against several of their Ivy League foes. Along with host Princeton, fellow Ivies Penn, Cornell and Yale all sent teams to the three-day event. To start the day, four Columbia players entered in the top draw. Jon Wong, Bogdan Borta and Mihai Nichifor all won twice in the top bracket to advance into the second day. All three of the players defeated fellow Ivy Leaguers along the way, while freshman Ekin Sezgen fell to Princeton standout Peter Capkovic in a close straight-set defeat. In the B draw, Columbia players Haig Schneiderman, Rajeev Deb-Sen, Dan Urban and Michael Bohnen all advanced to the next round.

As the tournament progressed, the team began to increase its level of play. In the A bracket, senior Borta met junior teammate Nichifor in the semifinals. Their matchup proved to be a true battle of Lion strength, as Nichifor upended Borta in three sets, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, (10-6). On the other half of the draw, Wong defeated Cornell player Jonathan Fife in straight sets to advance to play Nichifor in the finals. Wong defeated Nichifor in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

In the B bracket, the potential for another all-Columbia final loomed, as both Urban and Schneiderman advanced to the semifinal, but only Schneiderman advanced to the finals as Urban was forced to retire down a set and a break in the second. In the finals, Schneiderman faced off against Alex Faust from Princeton, who defeated the Columbia freshman in a three-set battle, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Columbia also fared well in the doubles, placing two teams into the semifinals of the doubles draw. Borta and Wong advanced to the final, while Nichifor and Schneiderman fell to a team from Princeton. In the finals, Columbia’s duo of Wong and Borta exacted revenge, defeating the Princeton team, 8-4.

The women traveled to Philadelphia to compete in the Cissie Leary Invitational. Columbia performed well in both singles and doubles as Natasha Makarova and Shoko Okuda won their first singles matches in the main draw. Okuda advanced all the way to the semifinals of the main draw before falling to Vicky Brook from Yale in straight sets.

But the highlight of the weekend for the women was the performance of freshman Nicole Stanziola, who advanced to the final of the white bracket. Along the way, Stanziola defeated Kristen Scott of Princeton, and Lilian Nguyen from Yale, both in straight sets. Although Stanziola lost in the final in straight sets, it was still a very encouraging tournament for the freshman player from Panama.

On the doubles side of the draw, the duo of Stephanie Zilberman and Makarova advanced all the way to the finals of the red bracket before losing to a duo from Cornell with a heartbreaking 9-8 (7-5).

The men will next be competing in the All-American Tennis Championships in Tulsa, Okla., while the women will next play at home at the Alumni Tournament next weekend.